| ObjectiveThis study was to investigate the clinical characteristics of breakthrough pain in advance cancer patients. Furthermore, the efficacy of different methods of clinical interventions is evaluated in order to find the best treatment to control the breakthrough pain.MethodsFollowing the case-control observational study design, advanced cancer patients were selected according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria who were hospitalized in Zhejiang University affiliated Sir Run Run Hospital, or the First Hospital of Jiaxing, from September 2013 to May 2015. The pain was under control and monitored, according to numeric rating scale (NRS). Once the patients had breakthrough pain, the pain was scored and the patients received subcutaneous injection of morphine or oral administration of morphine tablets with quick-release. The pain was evaluated again 30min or 60min respectively, after injection or oral take-in. t-test has been performed to analyze the score data, and statistical significance was found by P<0.05.Results171 patients (age range from 22 to 84 years; mean,58.98±12.68 years) with advanced cancer and breakthrough pain have been included. During the course of study, totally 1365 times of breakthrough pain have been recorded,699 of which were treated with subcutaneous injection, and 666 were treated with oral administration of morphine quick-release tablets. The pain was evaluated before and after the treatment, and scored following NRS. The breakthrough pain has been found to be significantly alleviated in both subcutaneous and oral groups, but no significant difference in between. Observed side effects are normal and controllable constipation and nausea/vomiting. No grade Ⅲ or worse side effects has been witnessed.ConclusionsBased on the clinical data, both subcutaneous injection and oral administration of morphine have been demonstrated to be effective in treating breakthrough pain in hospitalized patients with advanced cancer. |
PDF Full Text Request