Clinical and translational radiation oncology
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Clin Transl Radiat Oncol · Aug 2018
A neuropathic pain component as a predictor of improvement in pain interference after radiotherapy for painful tumors: A secondary analysis of a prospective observational study.
We previously demonstrated that patients with a tumor-related neuropathic pain component were more likely to experience a pain response after radiotherapy (RT) than those without. It is unknown whether the presence of a neuropathic component also favorably influences pain interference. In a secondary analysis of our previous prospective observational study, we investigated if the presence of a neuropathic component of the index pain caused by the irradiated tumors predicts greater reduction in pain interference. ⋯ The presence of a neuropathic pain component predicted a greater reduction in pain interference after RT. Patients with neuropathic tumor-related pain should be offered the option of receiving palliative RT.