Analgesic choice in patients presenting to emergency department with cancer pain: a prospective study

Background. Acute onset pain is one of the common reasons for cancer patients to present to the emergency department. In our study, we compared painkillers used in cancer patients admitted to the emergency department with pain complaints and their effectiveness and the superiorities of these painkillers in pain relief and their superiorities over each other. Materials and methods. The pain scores of the patients were asked at the time of admission by showing a visual analogue scale. Before treatment, pain scores were recorded. The patients were divided into four different groups according to the type of given treatment: non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs; opioid painkillers; paracetamol; paracetamol and opioid therapy. After the treatment, we asked which painkiller written in the treatment form was administered to the patient and recorded the pain score. Results. It was observed that the median pain score before and after treatment of the patients in all painkiller groups differed statically. When the median scores before and after treatment were compared according to drug types, no difference was found between the decrease in pain scores (p = 0.956 and p = 0.705, respectively). It was concluded that the pre-treatment and post-treatment median pain scores of patients who are using non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs and opioids at home did not differ statistically (p = 0.063). Conclusions. The use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, paracetamol or opioids was not found to be superior to each other in patients with acute severe cancer pain.