Case Reports On The Multimodal Management of Refractory Chronic Oncological Pain of The Chest Wall: The Use of The Spinal Erector Plane Neurolysis

Chronic pain of oncological origin is one of the most frequent complications and is difficult to control, that results in a decrease in the quality of life and disability among patients suffering from this pathology. Primary or metastatic tumors originating from lung, colonic, or breast neoplasms can invade the chest wall, causing progressive respiratory pain and symptoms that require multiple interventions to achieve adequate control. Many of these cases presenting with advanced-stage cancer are often incurable; thus, pain management and palliative care are primary objectives. Multimodal management is the strategy of choice in these cases through the participation of a multidisciplinary team. Analgesic therapy covers the use of potent opioids, opioid rotation, adjuvant analgesics, and interventional pain management strategies. We report two cases of chronic oncological pain of the chest wall refractory to pharmacological analgesic management. The optimization of multimodal management and the performance of neurolysis by phenolization of the erector spinae plane achieved an adequate response.

Assessment and Management of Pain

The management of pain associated with serious chronic illness is a core objective of palliative care. Successful therapy depends on individualization of the therapy. Management begins with a comprehensive assessment that characterizes the pain and describes it in terms of the biopsychosocial context, which includes the etiology, pathophysiology, and condition or syndrome. Nonpharmacological approaches should be considered, many of which are implemented by other interdisciplinary team members. In some cases, disease-modifying therapies may be used for analgesic purposes. The nonopioids, particularly the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, are often adequate for initial pain management. Patients with moderate or severe pain usually are also offered an opioid, and widely accepted guidelines are available to inform safe and effective prescribing. Dose titration is usually necessary, and breakthrough pain may warrant concurrent use of fixed-schedule and “as-needed” therapy. Side effects must be anticipated and managed, and a “universal precautions” approach is prudent to mitigate the risk of abuse and addiction. If a favorable balance between analgesia and adverse effects is not realized, the patient may be poorly responsive and requires reevaluation. Opioid rotation is commonly used in this situation, as is cotreatment with one or more adjuvant analgesics, such as a glucocorticoid, antidepressant, or gabapentinoid. With guideline-based pharmacotherapy and other readily available integrative medical approaches, most patients with pain associated with serious chronic illness can obtain satisfactory relief throughout the course of their illness.

Oral Methadone for Cancer Pain Management at the End of Life: A Forgotten Drug

Background: Opioids are used for pain management in cancer patients. Morphine is considered the best option. For some patients with pain of difficult control management and adverse effects, an opioid rotation should be considered. Oral methadone is an opioid to which patients can be rotated safely and effectively and inexpensive for Mexico and Latin America. Our study describes the 9-year experience of opioid rotation to methadone, the population profile, efficacy of methadone in cancer patients of the palliative care service. Methods: Retrospective study of cancer patients rotated to oral methadone for pain control. Tables of frequencies, median and interquartile ranges were made, as well as overall survival. Results: 311 patients were rotated to methadone, predominantly males (58.5%), median age of 54 years with oncological diagnoses in cervix (10.3%), germinal tumors (8.4%), breast (8.0%), prostate (7.4%) and rectal (5.5%). These patients experienced visceral (17.6%) or other types of pain (68.6%), and a combination of different types of pain, the most prevalent pain was neuropathic (88.7%) and 50% received morphine, 21% buprenorphine or fentanyl 19% previously, with a median dose of 60 mg (30-120). The main reason for rotation was difficult pain control (54%), obtaining an efficacy of 70.0%. Conclusion: In this cohort at advanced disease stage, 54% suffered from difficult pain control, thus rotation became necessary, reducing pain and manageable adverse events, without major changes of the initial and final dose. Should be promoted more widely in the management of pain of difficult control by cancer in first position prescription.

Parecoxib for opioid-induced hyperalgesia

This paper describes the case report of a patient admitted to hospital with severe and complex pain and subacute bowel obstruction, who failed to respond to multiple analgesic regimens including ketamine burst and opioid rotation, and was subsequently successfully managed with a parecoxib infusion.

Opioid rotation from transdermal fentanyl to continuous subcutaneous hydromorphone in a cachectic patient: A case report and review of the literature

Opioid rotation from transdermal fentanyl to an alternate opioid is often necessitated in advanced disease, but is fraught with uncertainty due to variable absorption from the patch in end-stage illness and the lack of a clearly established opioid rotation ratio. The manufacturer of transdermal fentanyl provides opioid rotation recommendations only for rotation from the oral morphine equivalent daily dose (MEDD) of opioid to the patch, not in the opposite direction. This is a case report of a single patient with cancer and cachexia admitted to the palliative care unit of a large academic medical centre in Canada. The patient is a 50-year-old female with widely metastatic breast cancer who developed opioid toxicity when maintenance transdermal fentanyl patch therapy (100 μg patch applied every 72 h) was rotated to subcutaneous hydromorphone infusion to improve pain control. Hydromorphone was initiated at a rate of 1 mg/h by continuous infusion based on an opioid rotation ratio for transdermal fentanyl (μg/h):MEDD (mg/day) of 1:2.4. Opioid toxicity eventually resolved with downward titration of hydromorphone to only 30% of the initially estimated equianalgesic dose. This case highlights the need for close follow-up of all patients undergoing opioid rotation from transdermal fentanyl and reinforces the need to reduce the initial dose of the new opioid by 30%–50% of the calculated MEDD, especially when rotating from a high dose of transdermal fentanyl, or if there are factors potentially impairing absorption from the patch such as age, cachexia and weight loss, or if rotation is performed for reasons other than uncontrolled pain.

Opioid Induced Hyperalgesia, a Research Phenomenon or a Clinical Reality? Results of a Canadian Survey

Background: Very little is known regarding the prevalence of opioid induced hyperalgesia (OIH) in day to day medical practice. The aim of this study was to evaluate the physician’s perception of the prevalence of OIH within their practice, and to assess the level of physician’s knowledge with respect to the identification and treatment of this problem. Methods: An electronic questionnaire was distributed to physicians who work in anesthesiology, chronic pain, and/or palliative care in Canada. Results: Of the 462 responses received, most were from male (69%) anesthesiologists (89.6%), in the age range of 36 to 64 years old (79.8%). In this study, the suspected prevalence of OIH using the average number of patients treated per year with opioids was 0.002% per patient per physician practice year for acute pain, and 0.01% per patient per physician practice year for chronic pain. Most physicians (70.2%) did not use clinical tests to help make a diagnosis of OIH. The treatment modalities most frequently used were the addition of an NMDA antagonist, combined with lowering the opioid doses and using opioid rotation. Conclusions: The perceived prevalence of OIH in clinical practice is a relatively rare phenomenon. Furthermore, more than half of physicians did not use a clinical test to confirm the diagnosis of OIH. The two main treatment modalities used were NMDA antagonists and opioid rotation. The criteria for the diagnosis of OIH still need to be accurately defined.

Factors associated with improvement in uncontrolled cancer pain without increasing opioid daily dose among patients seen by an inpatient palliative care team.

9 Background: Increasing total opioid dose is the standard approach for managing uncontrolled cancer pain. Other than simply increasing the opioid dose, palliative care interventions are multidimensional and may improve pain control in the absence of opioid dose increase. The purpose of this study was to determine the proportion of patients referred to our inpatient palliative care (IPC) team who achieved clinically improved pain (CIP) without opioid dose increase. Methods: We reviewed consecutive patients referred to our IPC team. Eligibility criteria included: 1) taking opioid medication; 2) having ≥ 2 consecutive visits with the IPC team; 3) Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale (ESAS) pain score ≥ 4 at consultation. We assessed patient demographics and clinical variables, including cancer type, opioid prescription data (type, route, oral morphine equivalent daily dose [MEDD]), presence of opioid rotation, psychological consultation, changes in adjuvant medications (e.g., corticosteroids, benzodiazepines, and neuroleptics), and achievement of CIP. Results: Of the 300 patients enrolled, CIP was achieved in 196 (65%) patients. Of CIP patients, 85 (43%) achieved CIP without an increase in MEDD. CIP without MEDD increase was associated with more adjuvant medication changes (P = 0.003), less opioid rotation (P = 0.005), and lower symptom distress scale of ESAS (P = 0.04). Conclusions: Nearly half of patients achieved CIP without MEDD increase, suggesting that multidimensional palliative care intervention is effective in improving pain control in many opioid-tolerant patients without the need to increase the opioid dose.