Cancer Pain Management Methods

Cancer patients can experience pain from their condition or the medications used to treat their condition. Their doctors may develop a pain management plan to help their patients get through the pain while they undergo treatment. The methods they use may depend on the type of cancer their patients' have.

Assessments

Assessing a patient's pain level is critical in implementing a cancer pain management plan. Doctors use a number of evaluation techniques to find out the intensity of pain. Most begin with a pain scale that begins at level one and ends at level 10, with 10 being the most intense.

The scale may also ask about:

• Location of pain


• Intensity of pain


• Influences on the pain, what makes it feel worse and what makes it feel better


• The patients' current medication and its effects on the pain

After the initial assessments, doctors begin looking at different cancer treatment methods based on their evaluations.

Individual Pain Management Treatment

Every cancer patient is different and requires different pain management treatment. Doctors cannot treat every person the same way when it comes to treatment. They need to address several factors before designing a cancer pain management plan.

• They need to look at patients' cancer stage. People in the early stages of cancer may respond better to treatment. Those in the later stages may require a number of treatment methods.


• The type of cancer they have. Doctors evaluate where the cancer is, and whether or not it has spread to other areas of the body.


• Their age at the time of the cancer. Children and the elderly need special consideration because of their age. The treatments cannot be too intense that it does more harm than good.