Management of lung cancer-related pain

Abstract

Pain occurs in seventy-four percent of patients suffering from advanced lung cancer, and eighty-two percent of patients feels that the applied treatment of pain was inefficient. The management of cancer-related pain is based on the WHO analgesic ladder. The ladder has three steps. Step one involves the use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs for mild pain, step two mild opioids for moderate pain and step three strong opioids for the treatment of heavy pain. This management - in case of emergency - is supplemented by interventional procedures (nerve blockades, surgery). The most effective pain-killing intervention is the all-round oncological and surgical therapy. The different treatments (oncological, radiological, surgical, drug and interventional) are applied in combination with each other. The paper is dealt with the possibility offered by the drug and interventional treatments.