ETIOLOGY OF PAIN
 The causes of cancer pain fall into five categories: 1) direct tumor
involvement of bone, nerves, viscera, or soft tissue (accounting for pain
in the majority of patients); 2) changes in body structure due to the
tumor or its treatment, usually resulting in muscle spasm, muscle
imbalance, or structural body changes; 3) anticancer therapy-surgery,
chemotherapy, radiation therapy, immunotherapy, and biological response
modifiers (often this pain is neuropathic, resulting from nerve damage
caused by the treatment); 4) causes unrelated to cancer or its therapy,
usually pre-existing painful medical conditions such as rheumatoid
arthritis, diabetic neuropathy, etc.; and 5) no cause that can be
immediately established. Usually a nociceptive cause, most often
undetected progression of disease, is eventually found in patients in
category 5.
|
