疼痛是大多數(shù)普通癌癥患者所遇到的癥狀，根據(jù)研究顯示由于疾病和治療等原因目前很多患者沒(méi)有得到足夠的治療
對(duì)于癌癥病人，疼痛會(huì)來(lái)自癌癥本身，慢性的炎癥以及感染。普通的癌癥治療，例如外科手術(shù)，化療以及放射療法同樣會(huì)引起疼痛，除了這些原因，疼痛時(shí)常源于不恰當(dāng)?shù)墓芾硭鸬幕颊叩慕箲]。研究者一直致力于確定患者未能得到最佳止痛療法的主要原因。
2005年11月至2006年4月間，對(duì)106例接受放射療法的病人進(jìn)行了一項(xiàng)網(wǎng)絡(luò)問(wèn)卷調(diào)查以評(píng)估他們用藥情況、疼痛的控制和對(duì)止痛藥物的態(tài)度，包括處方藥物，非處方藥。58% 報(bào)告稱疼痛來(lái)自于他們的癌癥治療；46% 患者報(bào)告疼痛直接來(lái)自于癌癥；目前80% 的受調(diào)查患者稱他們沒(méi)有使用藥物去控制疼痛。
大多數(shù)患者稱他們沒(méi)有服用止疼藥物的主要原因是他們的醫(yī)生沒(méi)有向他們推薦藥物治療。這個(gè)原因主要是因?yàn)閾?dān)心患者會(huì)沉溺或依賴藥物以及沒(méi)有足夠能力支付藥物費(fèi)用。一些患者同樣報(bào)告使用其他療法來(lái)減輕疼痛包括物理治療、按摩和針灸。
“排除為癌癥病人使用最佳的疼痛控制的障礙，醫(yī)生應(yīng)該和他們的病人進(jìn)行關(guān)于疼痛征兆和疼痛藥物的談話。”查爾斯.西蒙這項(xiàng)研究的負(fù)責(zé)人談到：“我們將邁出這樣一步，讓這個(gè)評(píng)估系統(tǒng)變?yōu)橐粋€(gè)電子醫(yī)療記錄系統(tǒng)，這個(gè)系統(tǒng)將設(shè)計(jì)成為醫(yī)生在面對(duì)每個(gè)患者時(shí)對(duì)患者疼痛等級(jí)和止痛藥進(jìn)行評(píng)估和建議。”
Cancer Patients: Many Receive Insufficient Pain Therapy
Pain is one of the most common symptoms of cancer patients, yet many of them do not receive adequate therapy for the pain caused by their disease or treatments, according to a study.
For cancer patients, pain can come from the cancer itself, chronic inflammatory changes or infections. Standard cancer treatments, such as surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy can also cause pain, but despite its common occurrence, pain is a frequent source of patient anxiety due to improper management. Researchers sought to determine the main reasons that patients fail to receive optimal pain therapy.
Between November 2005 and April 2006, 106 radiation therapy patients responded to an Internet-based questionnaire that evaluated their medication use, pain control and attitudes toward pain medication, including prescription and over-the-counter pain medications. Fifty-eight percent reported pain from their cancer treatment and 46 percent of patients reported pain directly from their cancer, yet 80 percent of those patients said that they did not use medication to manage their pain. Most patients said the main reason they did not take pain medication was because their healthcare provider did not recommend it. This reason was followed by a fear of addiction or dependence and the inability to pay. Some patients also reported using alternative therapies for pain relief, including physical therapy, massage and acupuncture. “To eliminate barriers to optimal pain management for cancer patients, healthcare providers should talk with their patients about pain symptoms and pain medications,” Charles Simone, lead author of the study, said. “We have taken these steps by transitioning to an electronic medical record system that has been designed to require an evaluation and documentation of patient pain levels and pain medication responses by healthcare providers at each patient encounter