Pain in patients with pancreatic cancer: prevalence, mechanisms, management and future developments

Koulouris, Andreas I., Banim, Paul and Hart, Andrew (2017) Pain in patients with pancreatic cancer: prevalence, mechanisms, management and future developments. Digestive Diseases and Sciences, 62 (4). 861–870. ISSN 0163-2116

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Abstract

Pain affects approximately 80% of patients with pancreatic cancer, with half requiring strong opioid analgesia, namely: morphine-based drugs on step three of the WHO analgesic ladder (as opposed to the weak opioids: codeine and tramadol). The presence of pain is associated with reduced survival. This article reviews the literature regarding pain: prevalence, mechanisms, pharmacological, and endoscopic treatments and identifies areas for research to develop individualized patient pain management pathways. The online literature review was conducted through: PubMed, Clinical Key, Uptodate, and NICE Evidence. There are two principal mechanisms for pain: pancreatic duct obstruction and pancreatic neuropathy which, respectively, activate mechanical and chemical nociceptors. In pancreatic neuropathy, several histological, molecular, and immunological changes occur which correlate with pain including: transient receptor potential cation channel activation and mast cell infiltration. Current pain management is empirical rather etiology-based and is informed by the WHO analgesic ladder for first-line therapies, and then endoscopic ultrasound-guided celiac plexus neurolysis (EUS-CPN) in patients with resistant pain. For EUS-CPN, there is only one clinical trial reporting a benefit, which has limited generalizability. Case series report pancreatic duct stenting gives effective analgesia, but there are no clinical trials. Progress in understanding the mechanisms for pain and when this occurs in the natural history, together with assessing new therapies both pharmacological and endoscopic, will enable individualized care and may improve patients’ quality of life and survival.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	sdg 3 - good health and well-being ,/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/good_health_and_well_being
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Epidemiology and Public Health Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Gastroenterology and Gut Biology Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Public Health and Health Services Research (former - to 2023)
Depositing User:	Pure Connector
Date Deposited:	04 Mar 2017 01:42
Last Modified:	20 Mar 2024 20:31
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/62857
DOI:	10.1007/s10620-017-4488-z

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