Archive | 2019
Intrathecal Drug Delivery for Cancer Pain
Abstract
Abstract Interventional, neurosurgical, and—on the horizon—molecular neurosurgical procedures can supplement pharmacological and complementary approaches to treat cancer pain. Of the approximately 500,000 patients who die each year from cancer, 5%-15% suffer from poor pain control. Implantable drug delivery systems and highly specific, highly efficacious, nonaddictive, long-acting neurolysis (now being tested in clinical trials), may optimize pain management while minimizing side effects, enhancing quality of life, improving survival, and potentially reducing costs in this patient population. These techniques are ideal for patients for whom efforts to manage severe adverse effects are unsuccessful due to dose-limiting side effects (e.g., systemic opioids causing refractory constipation, nausea, vomiting, or sedation). With proper patient selection and consideration of a patient s medical condition, therapeutic effects can be optimized while complications are minimized.