الفهرس 
Mechanisms of Pain in Cancer PatientsOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
 |  | from | 130 |  |  |
| | | from | 130 | | |
Abstract
Pain is one of the most common symptoms experienced by cancer patients. The greatest fear among these cancer patients and their families is unrelieved pain. The aim of treatment is to enhance the quality of life by providing adequate pain control, not hasten or delay death.
Patients can present with different types of pain which can be well managed, in most of cancer patients, with the use of conventional analgesics and adjuvants according to the principles of the World Health Organization (WHO) analgesic ladder for cancer pain relief.
The remaining group of cancer patients with unrelieved pain or those experiencing intolerable side effects of conventional analgesics may benefit from some form of interventional strategies for pain management. This can be considered as Step 4 of the analgesic ladder.
Effective interventional management of cancer pain depends greatly on proper patient assessment and selection. Actually it was found that poor assessment of pain was the major barrier to good pain management.
Interventional strategies comprise two categories: ablative and augmentative modalities. Ablative modalities involve blocking nociceptive transmission by neurolytic injections or surgical lesions. The goal is to use chemicals (e.g., phenol, alcohol), or a scalpel to destroy nociceptive pathways and thereby achieve pain relief.
Augmentative modalities comprise infusional and electrical stimulation techniques. Medication infusion has emerged as a major resource in cancer pain management, whereas electrical stimulation plays a relatively minor role. Much of the growing interest in infusion therapy results from improved technology for continuous infusion, using epidural, intrathecal catheters connected to external infusion pumps, subcutaneous injection reservoirs, or implanted programmable infusion pumps.