UICC World Cancer Congress 2006

Quality of life is influenced by pain. Unrelieved pain can impair a patient's functional status and quality of life deteriorates. Cancer related pain afflicts 55-95% of patients at advanced cancer stages. The need for health professionals to be adequately trained and help to relieve these unfortunate cancer patients' pain cannot be overemphasized.

Methods:

Case report- A 41 year Caucasian woman with advanced lung cancer was suffering from severe pain for over 2 years. Increments in narcotic doses had not alleviated her pain and it had always remained severely uncontrolled. She was once admitted to an in-patient hospice facility with uncontrolled pain. Her pain was adequately controlled by switching her long- acting narcotic to methadone and increasing her breakthrough pain medication doses as well. By Day # 4.with her pain well under control, her spouse along with the patient and kids, drove them to a local restaurant, without informing the hospice staff. She was brought back to the hospice by midnight. Next day she was discharged home from the hospice, with pain remaining well under control.

Results: From the time of discharge, the patient began dreaming and planning about her 4 children growing, attending college and their weddings, etc. With the cancer pain finally alleviated after 2 years of unmitigated pain, she believed that she was ultimately cured of her cancer.

The above case has shown how quality of life can be greatly improved even in patients with advanced malignancy just by one intervention, that of “adequate pain management”.