Search

The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of cancer cachexia on pain control in cancer patients receiving a transdermal fentanyl patch (FP) and to investigate whether dry skin was a factor related to cancer cachexia and uncontrolled pain. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 77 patients receiving FP treatment for the first time, who were classified into cancer cachexia and non-cancer-cachexia groups, according to European Palliative Care Research Collaborative criteria. On day 7 after FP administration, the mean FP dose and morphine equivalent dose (MED) in the cancer cachexia group were significantly higher than in the non-cancer-cachexia group. Additionally, in the cancer cachexia group, there was a significantly larger degree of variation in pain intensity over 7 d than in the non-cachexia group. In patients who were switched from FP to morphine injection, the mean pain intensity and MED on day 3 after morphine injection were significantly lower than those immediately before morphine injection. Subsequently, to investigate whether dry skin was involved in poor pain control in the cancer cachexia group, transepidermal water loss (TEWL) was compared between 15 additional patients classified into cancer cachexia and non-cancer cachexia groups; the mean TEWL in the cancer cachexia group was found to be significantly lower. Our data suggest that cancer cachexia may be a risk factor for poor pain control in patients receiving FP treatment, and that uncontrolled pain in FP treatment may be caused by the inhibition of fentanyl transdermal absorption due to dry skin.

It is unknown whether nutritional status influences pain intensity in cancer patients receiving a transdermal fentanyl patch (FP). This study aimed to determine whether nutritional status is associated with pain intensity and to evaluate the influence of changes in nutritional status on pain intensity in cancer patients receiving transdermal FP treatment. We included 92 patients receiving transdermal FP treatment for the first time with switching from oxycodone. The patients were classified into low- and normal-nutrition groups based on their nutritional status, which was assessed according to the Nutrition Risk Screening 2002 (NRS 2002) parameters. The pain intensity of each patient was evaluated by a numeric rating scale (11-point scale from 0 to 10). NRS 2002 score and pain intensity were obtained on day 3 after the FP was applied to the skin. Pain intensities were significantly higher among patients in the low-nutrition group than among patients in the normal-nutrition group. NRS 2002 scores showed a significant positive correlation with the pain intensities. In 52 of 92 patients, who were evaluated using the NRS 2002 score and pain intensity on day 30 after FP application, the changes in NRS 2002 scores were significantly related to changes in pain intensities (odds ratio, 30.0; 95% confidence interval, 4.48-200.97; p=0.0005). These results suggest that an increase in the NRS 2002 score is a risk factor for an increase in pain intensity in cancer patients receiving FP treatment. Malnutrition may lead to poor pain management in cancer patients receiving FP treatment.