Journal of pain and symptom management
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Dec 2003
The Cancer Care Monitor: psychometric content evaluation and pilot testing of a computer administered system for symptom screening and quality of life in adult cancer patients.
Technology is making the routine screening of symptoms and the measurement of quality of life (QoL) more feasible at the point of care. However, most existing symptom screening scales and QoL measures were not developed for clinical use and were not formatted and validated for administration through computerized mediums. The Cancer Care Monitor (CCM) is a symptom-based scale developed for administration on pen-based computers. ⋯ Patients indicated a preference for the computer-administered version. Results suggest that CCM items can be scored as a reliable and valid measure of constructs related to physical, psychological, and functional status, and global health-related QoL in adult cancer patients. Future studies should replicate and further evaluate the properties of the CCM, especially in relation to clinical utility.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Dec 2003
Analysis and treatment of different types of neuropathic cancer pain.
Neuropathic pain is a major problem in the treatment of cancer pain. We performed a retrospective analysis of 213 cancer patients with neuropathic pain treated by a pain service following the World Health Organization guidelines for relief of cancer pain. Of these, 79% presented with nerve compression pain, 16% with nerve injury pain, and 5% with sympathetically-maintained pain. ⋯ There were no significant differences in the use of analgesics, the mean pain intensity, or the efficacy of analgesic treatment among the three groups. Nerve injury pain and sympathetically-maintained pain were treated more frequently with adjuvant analgesics, especially antidepressants and anticonvulsants. The variety of different neuropathic pain syndromes should be separated in future studies of the efficacy of different treatment approaches.