Cancer pain management: experience of 702 consecutive cases in a teaching hospital in Hong Kong

SL Tsui, KFJ Ng, WS Chan, TY Chan, JR Lo, JCS Yang
Department of Anaesthesiology, Queen Mary Hospital, Pokfulam, Hong Kong

Proper pain control is essential in the management of patients with cancer. We present here our experience in the management of 702 patients with cancer pain by the Pain Management Team, Department of Anaesthesiology, Queen Mary Hospital. Patients were discharged from the Pain Management Team with a visual analogue scale of pain (VAS) less than 3 in 87.7% of cases, and more than 90% of patients had improved appetite and sleep on discharge. These promising results were achieved through an emphasis on comfort and function, close liaison among clinicians from different specialties, and a variety of analgesic modalities. Oral drugs remained the mainstay of treatment, supplemented by alternative routes of drug administration such as subcutaneous, intravenous and transdermal delivery. Main side effects observed included nausea (16%) and constipation (8%). Neural blockade, including coeliac plexus blockade, and intercostal nerve blockade, and administration of opioids via subarachnoid or epidural routes were also employed in selected patients.

Hong Kong Med J 1996;2:405-13

Key words: Pain; cancer, Analgesia; Pain clinics; Analgesics, opioid; Hong Kong