癌症疼痛之處置

Around 30-45% percent of cancer patients in the early or middle stage will experience moderate to severe pain. Seventy-five percent of cancer patients in the terminal stage will experience severe pain. Among these patients, 90% of them could be relieved in the highly-controlled settings of hospices or palliative care units. There may be many causes for pain in the person with cancer such as direct tumor involvement, cancer treatment, and pain unrelated to cancer. An individual response to pain is influenced by several factors, which help to explain why pain is such a complex experience. It stresses the importance in selecting the appropriate tools to assess cancer pain. In 1986, the World Health Organization established a three-step analegesic ladder to
reduce cancer pain. In general, several methods have been used in managing cancer pain including pharmacological interventions, surgical operation, cutaneous stimulation, heat and could, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, and behavioral interventions. Behavioural interventions include relaxation, distraction,hypnosis, imagery/visualization, music therapy, play therapy, and life review.