ISSN : 1301-5680
e-ISSN : 2149-8156
Turkish Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery     
Characteristics of pain in lung cancer patients
Lütfiye Pirbudak1, Meral Uyar2, Alper Sevinç3, Elzem Şen1
1Department of Anesthesiology and Reanimation, Medical Faculty of Gaziantep University, Division of Algology, Gaziantep, Turkey
2Department of Chest Diseases, Medical Faculty of Gaziantep University, Gaziantep, Turkey
3Department of Medical Oncology, Medical Faculty of Gaziantep University, Gaziantep, Turkey
DOI : 10.5606/tgkdc.dergisi.2013.7211
Background: This study aims to evaluate characteristics of pain in primary lung cancer patients.

Methods: Between January 2004 and January 2009, data of 216 patients with primary lung cancer (184 males, 32 females, mean age 63 years; range 30 to 85 years) who were admitted to Gaziantep University, Faculty of Medicine, Algology Outpatient Clinic were retrospectively analyzed. The onset, localization and nature of cancerrelated pain were evaluated.

Results: Pain was localized in the back, shoulders, upper abdomen, sacroiliac joint and legs. Pain originated from non-pulmonary metastasis in 154 patients (71.3%) and primary lung cancer in 62 patients (28.7%) in the study group. One hundred five (48.6%) patients had neuropathic pain, while 61 patients had visceral pain (28.2%). The mean onset of visceral and neuropathic pain was 2 and 12 weeks, respectively. Medical treatment was found to be effective in 68.5% patients. However, pain was controlled with central or peripheral block in addition to medical treatment in 31.5% patients.

Conclusion: Our study results showed that neuropathic pain was more frequent in the population and pain was controlled with medical or interventional methods in all patients.

Keywords : Cancer; interventional methods; pain management; pulmonary
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