Lahoud MJ, Kourie HR, Antoun J, El Osta L, Ghosn M. Road map for pain management in pancreatic cancer: A review. World J Gastrointest Oncol 2016; 8(8): 599-606 [PMID: 27574552 DOI: 10.4251/wjgo.v8.i8.599]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Marwan Ghosn, MD, Department of Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, Saint Joseph University, Monot St, PO Box, Beirut 166830, Lebanon. marwanghosnmd@yahoo.com
Research Domain of This Article
Oncology
Article-Type of This Article
Review
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Gastrointest Oncol. Aug 15, 2016; 8(8): 599-606 Published online Aug 15, 2016. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v8.i8.599
Road map for pain management in pancreatic cancer: A review
Marie José Lahoud, Hampig Raphael Kourie, Joelle Antoun, Lana El Osta, Marwan Ghosn
Marie José Lahoud, Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care, Faculty of Medicine, Saint Joseph University, Beirut 166830, Lebanon
Hampig Raphael Kourie, Joelle Antoun, Lana El Osta, Marwan Ghosn, Department of Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, Saint Joseph University, Beirut 166830, Lebanon
Author contributions: Lahoud MJ, Kourie HR and Ghosn M initiated the review; Lahoud MJ and Kourie HR performed the review, wrote and analyzed the data; Lahoud MJ, Kourie HR, Antoun J, El Osta L and Ghosn M reviewed the paper.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Authors confirm that they do not have any conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Marwan Ghosn, MD, Department of Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, Saint Joseph University, Monot St, PO Box, Beirut 166830, Lebanon. marwanghosnmd@yahoo.com
Telephone: +961-1-3226842 Fax: +961-1-1613397
Received: February 10, 2016 Peer-review started: February 12, 2016 First decision: March 23, 2016 Revised: March 25, 2016 Accepted: May 13, 2016 Article in press: May 27, 2016 Published online: August 15, 2016
Abstract
Beside its poor prognosis and its late diagnosis, pancreatic cancer remains one of the most painful malignancies. Optimal management of pain in this cancer represents a real challenge for the oncologist whose objective is to ensure a better quality of life to his patients. We aimed in this paper to review all the treatment modalities incriminated in the management of pain in pancreatic cancer going from painkillers, chemotherapy, radiation therapy and interventional techniques to agents under investigation and alternative medicine. Although specific guidelines and recommendations for pain management in pancreatic cancer are still absent, we present all the possible pain treatments, with a progression from medical multimodal treatment to radiotherapy and chemotherapy then interventional techniques in case of resistance. In addition, alternative methods such as acupuncture and hypnosis can be added at any stage and seems to contribute to pain relief.
Core tip: This paper presents a road map for the pain management of pancreatic cancer. All treatment modalities incriminated in the management of pain in pancreatic cancer going from painkillers, chemotherapy, radiation therapy and interventional techniques to agents under investigation and alternative medicine are reviewed and their indications are discussed.
