Whole-body bone scintigraphy (WB-BS) is used for detecting and monitoring metastatic spread of prostate cancer (PCa) and to investigate bone pain episodes. To investigate the impact of a positive WB-BS on pain-relieving medicine prescription in PCa patients, a single-center, retrospective cohort study with PCa patients classified as positive for bone metastases (BM) by WB-BS was conducted. Demographic, clinical, and ambulatory pain-relieving medicine prescription data were evaluated. Pain-relieving medicines were categorized according to the WHO 'Analgesic Ladder'. Regimens adopted before and after WB-BS were compared. Differences were considered significant at p<0.05. A total of 180 PCa patients were diagnosed with BM, 64.4% of whom were ≥65 years of age. Thirty-three patients were prescribed analgesics only after WB-BS, mostly including NSAIDs and weak opioids. Pain-relieving prescription changed after WB-BS in patients with prescriptions before and after WB-BS, with a reduction in NSAIDs and adjuvants and an increase in weak and strong opioids. In addition, 40% of patients with WHO analgesic step 1 drugs and 21.7% of patients with WHO step 2 drugs before WB-BS changed to other WHO steps after WB-BS. Pain-relieving prescriptions changed after a positive WB-BS, providing evidence that it could contribute to clinical management of painful metastatic PCa patients.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.