Pain Treatment and Cancer Patients: Are we Heeding Quality of Life?

Fentanyl in cancer pain management: avoiding hasty judgments and discerning its potential benefits

“…In recent years, there has been increasing attention on the impact of BTcP on QOL. [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25] Furthermore, the terms "health", "health-related quality of life" and "quality of life" are used synonymously, and different and incomparable measures are used in the examined studies. 167,168 Guitart et al 150 showed pain reduction and significant improvement in SF-12 and HADS scores on both the depression (p=0.005) and anxiety (p<0.001) sub-scales at the end of follow-up in 69 patients treated with sublingual fentanyl tablets for BTcP.…”

“…3,8,9 Cancer-related pain is a multidimensional symptom that includes physical, psychosocial, emotional and spiritual components. 10,11 Poor cancer pain management contributes to worsening quality of life (QOL), [12][13][14][15][16] can influence adherence to antitumor treatment, 17 has a significant impact on the psychological aspects of life and emotional well-being, 18,19 and worsens fatigue, sleep disorders, nutritional status, anxiety, depression and social withdrawal. [20][21][22][23][24][25] Many patients with cancer require emergency department consultation for acute oncological pain, and a high percentage are admitted to hospital to manage pain, thus increasing healthcare costs.…”