Connecticut medicine
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Connecticut medicine · May 1989
Pain therapy for pancreatic carcinoma with neurolytic celiac plexus block.
The past year's experience of the Pain and Regional Anesthesia Service at Hartford Hospital with neurolytic celiac plexus blockade for pancreatic cancer has been reviewed. The series includes eight patients with intractable pain from pancreatic cancer as well as two patients with pain from other abdominal malignancies. ⋯ The only complication noted was one episode of mild, transient hypotension. Neurolytic celiac plexus blockade is a safe and effective means to relieve the terminal pain associated with not only pancreatic cancer but also other abdominal malignancies.
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We studied the time course of development of tolerance in four terminally ill cancer patients who were treated for intractable pain by intrathecal morphine administered by an implanted catheter and pump. The duration of treatment varied from 1.8 to 10.5 months. ⋯ Hence, for any given patient, the slope of the dose v time curve is effectively a constant over long periods. We also found that patients tolerate very high doses of intrathecal morphine without serious side effects.