Bone Pain in Cancer Patients: Mechanisms and Current Treatment
1
Department of Interdisciplinary Intensive Care, Jagiellonian University Medical College, 31-008 Krakow, Poland
2
Department of Pain Research and Treatment, Jagiellonian University Medical College, 31-008 Krakow, Poland
3
Laboratory of Quality of Life Research, Chair and Department of Palliative Medicine, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, 61-701 Poznan, Poland
*
Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2019, 20(23), 6047; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms20236047
Received: 10 October 2019 / Revised: 17 November 2019 / Accepted: 28 November 2019 / Published: 30 November 2019
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms of Bone Metastasis 2.0)
The skeletal system is the third most common site for cancer metastases, surpassed only by the lungs and liver. Many tumors, especially those of the breast, prostate, lungs, and kidneys, have a strong predilection to metastasize to bone, which causes pain, hypercalcemia, pathological skeletal fractures, compression of the spinal cord or other nervous structures, decreased mobility, and increased mortality. Metastatic cancer-induced bone pain (CIBP) is a type of chronic pain with unique and complex pathophysiology characterized by nociceptive and neuropathic components. Its treatment should be multimodal (pharmacological and non-pharmacological), including causal anticancer and symptomatic analgesic treatment to improve quality of life (QoL). The aim of this paper is to discuss the mechanisms involved in the occurrence and persistence of cancer-associated bone pain and to review the treatment methods recommended by experts in clinical practice. The final part of the paper reviews experimental therapeutic methods that are currently being studied and that may improve the efficacy of bone pain treatment in cancer patients in the future.
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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
MDPI and ACS Style
Zajączkowska, R.; Kocot-Kępska, M.; Leppert, W.; Wordliczek, J. Bone Pain in Cancer Patients: Mechanisms and Current Treatment. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2019, 20, 6047.
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