Interventional Therapies in Cancer Pain Management

[Olga]

The Role of Interventional Therapies in Cancer Pain Management
Abstract
Cancer pain is complex and multifactorial. Most cancer pain can be effectively controlled
using analgesics in accordance to the WHO analgesic ladder. However, in a small but signifi cant
percentage of cancer patients, systemic analgesics fail to provide adequate control of cancer
pain. These cancer patients can also suffer from intolerable adverse effects of drug therapy or
intractable cancer pain in advance disease. Though the prognosis of these cancer patients is often
very limited, the pain relief, reduced medical costs and improvement in function and quality of
life from a wide variety of available interventional procedures is extremely invaluable. These
interventions can be used as sole agents or as useful adjuncts to supplement analgesics. This
review will discuss interventional procedures such as epidural and intrathecal drug infusions,
intrathecal neurolysis, sympathetic nervous system blockade, nerve blocks, vertebroplasty and
the more invasive neurosurgical procedures. Intrathecal medications including opioids, local
anaesthetics, clonidine, and ziconotide will also be discussed.

The full free text is here:

http://www.annals.edu.sg/pdf/38VolNo11N ... 11p989.pdf