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Tumor Pain: Tumors can cause pain by exerting pressure on surrounding tissues or nerves.
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Treatment-Related Pain: Interventions such as surgery, radiotherapy, or chemotherapy during cancer treatment can lead to pain.
- Neuropathic Pain: Cancer tissue itself or the applied treatment can affect nerves, causing damage and resulting in a different type of pain known as neuropathic pain.
Cancer pain varies individually in terms of type, intensity, duration, and location depending on the type of cancer.
Treatment options include drug therapy, radiotherapy, and interventional pain treatments.
The goal of cancer pain treatment is to alleviate pain and improve the patient's quality of life, adapting the approach based on pain severity, type, cancer type, and the patient's individual condition.
Commonly used methods in cancer pain treatment include:
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Medication: Pain relievers are often the first choice to control cancer pain. Depending on the pain level, simple analgesics, opioids (such as morphine, oxycodone, codeine), or adjuvant analgesics (such as antidepressants, anticonvulsants, corticosteroids) may be prescribed.
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Radiotherapy: Radiation treatments targeting cancer cells can reduce pain by shrinking or suppressing the tumor causing pain.
- Chemotherapy: Chemotherapy drugs used in cancer treatment can reduce pain by shrinking or controlling tumors, similar to radiotherapy.
- Surgical Intervention: Surgical procedures to remove or treat cancerous tissue can sometimes be an effective option for pain reduction.
- Interventional Methods: Interventional methods, frequently used by algologists, are effective in relieving pain. These include nerve blocks, nerve ablation (damage to the nerve transmitting pain), neurostimulation, sympathetic ganglion neurolysis, placement of epidural or intrathecal port pumps, and cordotomy. These methods alleviate or completely eliminate pain while reducing the amount of necessary pain medication.
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