{"id":1820,"date":"2016-05-02T08:53:09","date_gmt":"2016-05-02T15:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/phcprimarycare.org\/?p=1820"},"modified":"2017-03-09T16:45:05","modified_gmt":"2017-03-10T00:45:05","slug":"cancer-pain-the-forgotten-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/phcprimarycare.org\/?p=1820","title":{"rendered":"Cancer Pain – The Forgotten One"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cancer remains one of the most prevalent and deadly diseases in California as they are in the United States. Nine of fourteen counties served by Partnership exceed the state average prevalence of 417 per 100,000 population; six of the top ten counties in California for cancer prevalence are in Partnership HealthPlan service areas.\u00a0 Breast, colon and lung cancers remain the most common.<\/p>\n

Once thought it be primarily relation to tissue destruction and inflammation, with some pain resulting from perineural invasion of the tumor causing neuropathic pain, the understanding of the etiology of cancer pain has shifted to intrinsic pain mediators being secreted by the tumors themselves including the bradykinins, tumor necrosis factors, and granulocyte colony stimulating factors. It\u2019s also known now that cancer induces spinal cord plasticity with overexpression of nociceptive mediators and receptors.<\/p>\n

Pain is a very common complication of cancer. Studies have suggested that it is present in over 50% of cancers, with pain ranging from 52% in urogenital cancers to over 70% in head and neck cancers. Yet with all the attention being paid to the opioid epidemic among non-cancer pain patients, the cancer population is not receiving the attention it deserves.<\/p>\n

Cancer pain isn\u2019t a single form but has multiple pain syndromes. This is key to identify for each syndrome has different mixes of appropriate management strategies. These syndromes include:<\/p>\n