Pain Control for Pancreatic Cancer: Cancer Surgeon Explains

According to a cancer doctor in Kolkata, pain can be a significant issue for people who have pancreatic cancer. These cancers have the potential to invade and press on nerves near the pancreas, resulting in abdominal (belly) or back pain.

Notify your doctor upon feeling any pain. Pain is easier to manage if treatment is initiated as soon as it occurs. 

Here are some proven methods for pancreatic cancer pain relief:

 

Anti-inflammatories

Morphine or similar drugs (opioids) can help most patients manage their pain. Many people are concerned about these drugs out of fear of developing an addiction, but studies have shown that the risk of getting addicted is low if the patient takes the medication as prescribed by the doctor.

Pain medications work when taken on a consistent schedule. They are ineffective if used when the pain becomes severe. Numerous long-acting forms of morphine and other opioids are available in pill form and require only one or two doses per day. There is even a long-acting fentanyl patch that is applied every three days.

These medications' most common side effects are nausea and sleepiness, which often improve with time. Constipation is a common side effect that does not improve and therefore requires treatment. The majority of people require daily use of stool softeners and laxatives.

Additional therapies

At times, specific procedures may be required to alleviate pain. For instance, cutting or injecting alcohol into some of the nerves (which transmit pain sensations) near the pancreas can frequently relieve pain and allow you to take lower doses of pain medication.

If you are having surgery for another reason (for example, to remove cancer or relieve bile duct obstruction), this can usually be done concurrently, says a surgical oncologist in Kolkata.

This can also be accomplished as a stand-alone procedure. The doctor may perform a nerve block by injecting either an anaesthetic or a medication that destroys nerves near the pancreas.

This can be accomplished using an ultrasound or a CT scan in one of two ways:

• piercing the skin with a needle or by

• guiding a needle to the nerves with the aid of an endoscope (a long, flexible tube that is passed down the throat and past the stomach).

Chemotherapy and radiation therapy can occasionally alleviate pain by shrinking the size of cancer, says the cancer doctor in Kolkata.