The Management of Cancer Pain: Should interventional therapies be approached as first-line treatment along with beginning an opioid regimen?

Cancer produces many symptoms, and pain is one of them. When a person is having pain due to cancer, many aspects of the person’s life may be altered or inhibited; for example, activities of daily living may be difficult to perform, their psychological state may be altered, their social lives may be changed, and their overall physical function may be affected in a way that the person may need to modify what they typically do in a normal day. The pain a person experiences depends on the type of cancer, how far the cancer has progressed, and the treatment being performed. Statistics show that 33-59% of people who are undergoing cancer treatment experience chronic pain and increases to 64-74% in people with more advanced diseases (Dhingra, 2019). Because cancer results in a high prevalence of reported pain, patients should be routinely screened for pain through a cancer pain assessment. [excerpt