PURPOSES: Determine adequacy of management of pain secondary to bone metastases by physicians referring to specialized outpatient palliative radiotherapy (RT) clinics in Canada; compare geographic differences in adequacy of pain management and pain severity between these cohorts; compare results with published international literature. METHODS: Prospectively collected data from three participating centers were used to calculate the Pain Management Index (PMI) by subtracting the patient-rated pain score at time of initial clinic visit from the analgesic score. Scores were 0, 1, 2, and 3 when patients reported no pain (0), mild (1-4), moderate (5-6), or severe pain (7-10), respectively, on the Edmonton Symptom Assessment System or Brief Pain Inventory. Analgesic scores of 0, 1, 2, and 3 were assigned for no pain medication, nonopioids, weak opioids, and strong opioids respectively. A negative PMI suggests inadequate pain management. RESULTS: Overall incidence of negative PMI and moderate to severe pain was 25.1% and 70.9% respectively for 2011 patients. Comparing the three participating centers, the incidence of negative PMI was 31.0%, 20.0%, and 16.8% (p < 0.0001), and severe pain was 55.5%, 48.2% and 43.4% (p < 0.0001), these correlated with a negative PMI. Patients referred to our clinics were less likely to be undertreated for their pain when compared to study results from international countries. CONCLUSION: Geographic differences in adequacy of analgesic management for painful bone metastases exist between Canadian specialized outpatient palliative RT clinics and between centers globally. Investigating reasons for these differences may provide insight into solutions to improve quality of life for these patients.
PURPOSES: Determine adequacy of management of pain secondary to bone metastases by physicians referring to specialized outpatient palliative radiotherapy (RT) clinics in Canada; compare geographic differences in adequacy of pain management and pain severity between these cohorts; compare results with published international literature. METHODS: Prospectively collected data from three participating centers were used to calculate the Pain Management Index (PMI) by subtracting the patient-rated pain score at time of initial clinic visit from the analgesic score. Scores were 0, 1, 2, and 3 when patients reported no pain (0), mild (1-4), moderate (5-6), or severe pain (7-10), respectively, on the Edmonton Symptom Assessment System or Brief Pain Inventory. Analgesic scores of 0, 1, 2, and 3 were assigned for no pain medication, nonopioids, weak opioids, and strong opioids respectively. A negative PMI suggests inadequate pain management. RESULTS: Overall incidence of negative PMI and moderate to severe pain was 25.1% and 70.9% respectively for 2011 patients. Comparing the three participating centers, the incidence of negative PMI was 31.0%, 20.0%, and 16.8% (p < 0.0001), and severe pain was 55.5%, 48.2% and 43.4% (p < 0.0001), these correlated with a negative PMI. Patients referred to our clinics were less likely to be undertreated for their pain when compared to study results from international countries. CONCLUSION: Geographic differences in adequacy of analgesic management for painful bone metastases exist between Canadian specialized outpatient palliative RT clinics and between centers globally. Investigating reasons for these differences may provide insight into solutions to improve quality of life for these patients.
Authors: Michael J Fisch; Ju-Whei Lee; Matthias Weiss; Lynne I Wagner; Victor T Chang; David Cella; Judith B Manola; Lori M Minasian; Worta McCaskill-Stevens; Tito R Mendoza; Charles S Cleeland Journal: J Clin Oncol Date: 2012-04-16 Impact factor: 44.544
Authors: Sherlyn Vuong; Natalie Pulenzas; Carlo DeAngelis; Sarah Torabi; Soha Ahrari; May Tsao; Cyril Danjoux; Toni Barnes; Edward Chow Journal: Support Care Cancer Date: 2015-07-26 Impact factor: 3.603
Authors: Costanza M Donati; Elena Nardi; Alice Zamagni; Giambattista Siepe; Filippo Mammini; Francesco Cellini; Alessia Di Rito; Maurizio Portaluri; Cristina De Tommaso; Anna Santacaterina; Consuelo Tamburella; Rossella Di Franco; Salvatore Parisi; Sabrina Cossa; Vincenzo Fusco; Antonella Bianculli; Pierpaolo Ziccarelli; Luigi Ziccarelli; Domenico Genovesi; Luciana Caravatta; Francesco Deodato; Gabriella Macchia; Francesco Fiorica; Giuseppe Napoli; Milly Buwenge; Romina Rossi; Marco Maltoni; Alessio G Morganti Journal: Cancers (Basel) Date: 2022-09-25 Impact factor: 6.575