scholarly journals Interventional Pain Management for Cancer Pain: An Analysis of Outcomes and Predictors of Clinical Response

2020 ◽  
Vol 5;23 (9;5) ◽  
pp. E451-E459
Author(s):  
Uri Hochberg

Background: Interventional procedures are offered routinely to patients seen in McGill University’s interdisciplinary cancer pain management program. However, publications on these procedures are scarce, making it difficult to predict which patients may benefit from them. Objectives: We hypothesized that interventional pain procedures offered to cancer patients could provide relief of pain as well as other symptoms. Furthermore, some variables may predict the efficacy of such procedures. Study Design: We conducted a retrospective chart review of interventional pain management procedures. Setting: The procedures reviewed were conducted at the Cancer Pain Program and performed at the interventional suites of the McGill University Health Centre. Methods: The retrospective chart review included interventional pain management procedures performed between June 2015 and March 2017. Demographic data, details about the underlying cancer and about the procedure and peripTrocedural patients’ reported outcomes were recorded for analysis. Results: Eighty-two of 126 procedures were included for analysis. Most patients presented with metastatic disease (75%). Eighty percent of the patients reported pain relief, with the average pain severity decreasing by more than 2 points on a 0-to-10 Numeric Rating Scale for pain (from 6.5 of 10 to 4.2 of 10). Forty-three percent of patients were considered responders (≥ 50% pain relief). Responders also reported a significant decrease in fatigue, depression, anxiety, drowsiness, and improved well-being. Among responders, average daily opioid use decreased significantly, by 60% on average. None of the analyzed variables correlated with the response; however, psychosocial variables like anxiety and depression showed a nonsignificant trend towards predicting procedure failure. Limitations: The core limitations of this study are its size and retrospective nature. Conclusions: In this cohort of cancer pain patients, interventional cancer pain procedures provided effective pain relief and other benefits, including pain relief, reduced burden of symptoms, and reduction of opioid intake, while demonstrating a favorable safety profile. Patients with poorer ratings of depression and fatigue derived less benefit from procedures, suggesting that offering such procedures as part of patients’ treatment plan would be sensible, rather than leaving interventions for later stages. Key words: Cancer pain, pain management, pain intractable, treatment outcomes, palliative care, advanced cancer, cancer, evidence-based madicine

2020 ◽  
Vol 45 (9) ◽  
pp. 696-701
Author(s):  
Uri Hochberg ◽  
Asaf Berger ◽  
Miri Atias ◽  
Rotem Tellem ◽  
Ido Strauss

IntroductionNeurosurgical ablative procedures can offer immediate and effective pain relief for patients suffering from refractory cancer pain. However, choosing the appropriate procedure for each patient may not be straightforward and warrants an interdisciplinary approach. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the outcome of patients with cancer who were carefully selected for neurosurgical intervention by a dedicated interdisciplinary team composed of a palliative physician and nurse practitioner, a pain specialist and a neurosurgeon.MethodsA retrospective review was carried out on all patients who underwent neurosurgical ablative procedures in our institute between March 2015 and September 2019. All patients had advanced metastatic cancer with unfavorable prognosis and suffered from intractable oncological pain. Each treatment plan was devised to address the patients’ specific pain syndromes.ResultsA total of 204 patients were examined by our service during the study period. Sixty-four patients with localized pain and nineteen patients with diffuse pain syndromes were selected for neurosurgical interventions, either targeted disconnection of the spinothalamic tract or stereotactic cingulotomy. Substantial pain relief was reported by both groups immediately (cordotomy: Numerical Rating Scale (NRS) 9 ≥1, p=0.001, cingulotomy: NRS 9 ≥2, p=0.001) and maintained along the next 3-month follow-up visits.ConclusionsAn interdisciplinary collaboration designated to provide neurosurgical ablative procedures among carefully selected patients could culminate in substantial relief of intractable cancer pain.Trial registration numberIR0354-17.


2008 ◽  
Vol 1;11 (1;1) ◽  
pp. 43-55
Author(s):  
YiLi Zhou

Background: A recent study has indicated that quality assurance for interventional pain management procedures (IPMPs) can be achieved in university pain clinics. However, the issue of quality assurance for IPMPs in private practice has not yet been addressed. Objective: This study was designed to monitor the quality of IPMPs in a private pain practice in north Florida. Methods: From November 2005 to July 2006, we monitored the quality of IPMPs in a private pain practice in north Florida. Questionnaires regarding degree of pain relief, patient satisfaction, and complications were handed to patients immediately after the completion of each IPMP. Follow-up phone calls were also made to patients 1 day after the IPMPs. Results: A total of 771 (male: 249, female: 522) patients with a mean age of 58.1 years participated in the study. Office-based IPMPs included lumbar and cervical epidural steroid injections, lumbar and cervical facet joint blocks, selective nerve root blocks, lumbar and cervical sympathetic nerve blocks, sacroiliac joint injection, and large joint injections. Seven-hundred patients (90.8%) reported various degrees of pain relief immediately following IPMPs. Average pain score decreased by 4.3 on a 0 to 10 scale (p=<0.001). Number needed to be treated (NNT) to reach 50% or more pain relief immediately after IPMPs was 1.4. Six-hundred ninety-two (89.7%) patients were satisfied or very satisfied with the results of IPMPs. sixty-two patients (8%) developed headaches after IPMPs, which lasted from 30 minutes to 4 days. None of these patients required a blood patch. Five patients developed moderate vasovagal responses during IPMPs, in which their heart rates decreased to <45/min, BP <90/60mmHg. The IPMPs were aborted immediately. All of these patients recovered uneventfully within a few minutes. No other serious adverse events were reported. Conclusions: The results of the current study suggest that high quality private interventional pain programs with high efficacy, high patient satisfaction, and low complication rates can be achieved through appropriate staff training, proper monitoring of patients during IPMPs, and adequate handling of patients after the IPMPs. Key words: Interventional pain management procedures, quality assurance, efficacy, patient satisfaction


2014 ◽  
Vol 155 (3) ◽  
pp. 93-99
Author(s):  
Péter Heigl

Pain is a significant and alarming symptom of cancer seriously affecting the activity and quality of life of patients. Recent research proved that inadequate analgesia shortens life expectancy. Therefore, pain relief is not only a possibility but a professional, ethical and moral commitment to relieve patients from suffering, as well as ensure their adequate quality of life and human dignity. Proper pain relief can be achieved with medical therapy in most of the cases and the pharmacological alternatives are available in Hungary. Yet medical activity regarding pain relief is far from the desired. This paper gives a short summary of the guidelines on medical pain management focusing particularly on the use of opioids. Orv. Hetil., 2014, 155(3), 93–99.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-21
Author(s):  
Mani Mofidi ◽  
Ali Dashti ◽  
Mahdi Rezai ◽  
Niloufar Ghodrati ◽  
Hoorolnesa Ameli ◽  
...  

Introduction: This study was designed to compare the effectiveness of intravenous morphine with nebulized morphine in pain relief of patients referring to the emergency setting with traumatic musculoskeletal pain. Methods: This randomized, placebo-controlled and double-blind clinical study evaluated 160 patients 18 to 65 years of age with acute traumatic pain, who attended the emergency department during 2019. Subjects were assessed with Numerical Rating Scale based on inclusion and exclusion criteria and randomly divided into two groups. In one group, 80 patients received IV morphine (0.1 mg/kg+5 mL normal saline) plus an equivalent volume of IV placebo. In the second group, 80 patients received nebulized morphine (0.2 mg/kg+5 mL normal saline) plus nebulized placebo. Pain score was monitored in all patients with Numerical Rating Scale before and after intervention at baseline, 15, 30, 45, and 60-minute intervals. Patients’ vital signs and possible adverse events were evaluated in each observation time points. Finally, all participants were assessed for their satisfaction with pain management. Data were analyzed using repeated measure analysis for continuous variables and Binomial test for categorical variables Results: There was no significant difference between the demographic characteristics of patients in study groups. Pain relief between the two groups was similar during the observation (0, 15, 30, 45, 60 min) (P>0.05). There were no changes in vital signs between two groups, although the nebulized group had lower systolic blood pressure at the time-point of 15 minutes after the treatment initiation (P=0.03). Conclusion: Although Nebulized morphine has similar efficacy in comparison with IV route, nebulization might be considered as the clinically efficacious route of morphine administration with minimal side effects, providing optimal pain relief in patients.


2020 ◽  
pp. 523-653
Author(s):  
Gabor Bela Racz ◽  
Gabor J. Racz ◽  
Tibor A. Racz

2020 ◽  
pp. 629-633
Author(s):  
Marie Fallon

Pain occurs in more than 50% of patients with advanced disease, interferes with daily functioning and quality of life, and is very often undertreated. Patients can find it difficult to articulate the character of their pains, but it is important to determine whether it is somatic, neuropathic, or visceral since this has important implications for management. For most patients with cancer pain, a three-step approach combining simple or opioid analgesia (depending on severity) along with an adjuvant analgesic (depending on cause) will result in good pain relief, but the challenge is to achieve good pain relief without unacceptable adverse effects.


Author(s):  
Avishay A. Adri

INTRODUCTION: Acute manic episodes are a psychiatric emergency related to violence and poor patient outcomes. Combination psychotropic therapy utilizing a mood stabilizer and an atypical antipsychotic has been shown to be more efficacious for treating acute mania compared to monotherapy with either mood stabilizers or antipsychotics alone. This quality improvement project implemented evidence-based interventions for treating acute mania. The mania pathway protocol was created as a comprehensive clinical guide for guiding mania treatment. The protocol was implemented on an inpatient psychiatric unit for patients with mania diagnoses including manic/mixed episodes of bipolar disorder or schizoaffective disorder. AIMS: (1) to improve the treatment of mania by using evidence-based interventions for rapid mood stabilization and (2) to educate psychiatric providers on up-to-date interventions for treating acute manic states. METHOD: Psychiatric providers were evaluated for knowledge enhancement through a pre-/post–educational session quiz. A retrospective chart review was used for data collection for patients treated with the mania pathway protocol. The retrospective chart review spanned 8 weeks post project implementation. Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS) scores were analyzed to measure the effect on mania severity. RESULTS: The percentage decrease in mean Young Mania Rating Scale scores from admission to the fifth day of hospitalization was 61%. All psychiatric providers proved knowledge attainment by scoring 100% on the postintervention quiz. CONCLUSIONS: Rapid mood stabilization may be achieved by using a combination therapy–based mania protocol. Educational sessions can enhance psychiatric provider knowledge with regard to evidence-based treatments for mania.


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