Open AccessSuccessful management of a difficult cancer pain patient by appropriate adjuvant and morphine titration
Author(s) -
Shiv Ps Rana,
Arif Ahmed,
Vindo Kumar,
Prakash Chaudhary,
Deepa Khurana,
Seema Mishra
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
indian journal of palliative care/indian journal of palliative care
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.395
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1998-3735
pISSN - 0973-1075
DOI - 10.4103/0973-1075.84541
Subject(s) - medicine , morphine , cancer pain , analgesic , anesthesia , pain ladder , cancer , neuropathic pain , malignancy , adjuvant , oncology
Morphine has been used for many years to relieve cancer pain. Oral morphine (in either immediate release or modified release form) remains the analgesic of choice for moderate or severe cancer pain. The dose of oral morphine is titrated up to achieve adequate relief from pain with minimal side effects. Antidepressant and anticonvulsant drugs, when used in addition to conventional analgesics, give excellent relief from cancer pain. Most cancer pain responds to pharmacological measures with oral morphine but some pain like neuropathic and bony pain, pain in children and elderly age group, and advanced malignancy pain are very difficult to treat. Here, we report the management of a similar patient of severe cancer pain and the difficulty that we came across during dose titration of oral morphine and adjuvant analgesic.