Takashi Yamaguchi1,2, Katsuyuki Katayama3,4, Mina Matsumoto3, Yoshifumi Sato3,5, Noriko Nakayama3,5, Ko Hisahara6. 1. Department of Palliative Medicine, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Japan. 2. Department of Palliative Care, Hyogo Prefectural Kakogawa Medical Center, Kakogawa, Japan. 3. Palliative Care Team, Teine Keijinkai Hospital, Sapporo, Japan. 4. Department of Anesthesiology, Teine Keijinkai Hospital, Sapporo, Japan. 5. Department of Rehabilitation, Teine Keijinkai Hospital, Sapporo, Japan. 6. Pharmaholdings Co., Ltd., Sapporo, Japan.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Malignant psoas syndrome (MPS) is a rare but distressing pain syndrome observed in advanced cancer patients. Pain due to MPS is often refractory to multimodal analgesic treatment, including opioid analgesics. As only 1 case demonstrating the efficacy of neuraxial analgesia in managing pain due to MPS has been reported, its role in MPS remains uncertain. CASES: We present 3 cases demonstrating the successful management of pain due to MPS using spinal opioids with local anesthetic agents. All patients were under the care of the palliative care consultation service in an acute care hospital and refractory to multimodal analgesic treatment, including opioid, non-opioid, and adjuvant analgesics. Switching opioid administration to the epidural or intrathecal route with a local anesthetic agent provided good pain control in all 3 patients. Moreover, all patients showed improvements in both Palliative Performance Scale and Functional Independence Measure scores after starting a spinal opioid with a local anesthetic agent. CONCLUSIONS: The findings in the present cases indicate neuraxial analgesia may be of benefit, in terms of managing pain and improving functional status, in MPS patients with insufficient pain control by multimodal analgesic treatment. Physicians should consider the use of neuraxial analgesia in cases of MPS where pain is uncontrolled with multimodal analgesic treatment to provide the best possible quality of life for patients with MPS.
BACKGROUND:Malignant psoas syndrome (MPS) is a rare but distressing pain syndrome observed in advanced cancerpatients. Pain due to MPS is often refractory to multimodal analgesic treatment, including opioid analgesics. As only 1 case demonstrating the efficacy of neuraxial analgesia in managing pain due to MPS has been reported, its role in MPS remains uncertain. CASES: We present 3 cases demonstrating the successful management of pain due to MPS using spinal opioids with local anesthetic agents. All patients were under the care of the palliative care consultation service in an acute care hospital and refractory to multimodal analgesic treatment, including opioid, non-opioid, and adjuvant analgesics. Switching opioid administration to the epidural or intrathecal route with a local anesthetic agent provided good pain control in all 3 patients. Moreover, all patients showed improvements in both Palliative Performance Scale and Functional Independence Measure scores after starting a spinal opioid with a local anesthetic agent. CONCLUSIONS: The findings in the present cases indicate neuraxial analgesia may be of benefit, in terms of managing pain and improving functional status, in MPSpatients with insufficient pain control by multimodal analgesic treatment. Physicians should consider the use of neuraxial analgesia in cases of MPS where pain is uncontrolled with multimodal analgesic treatment to provide the best possible quality of life for patients with MPS.