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Moderate-to-severe pain is a common problem experienced by patients with cancer. Although analgesic drugs are effective, adverse side effects are common and some analgesic drugs are addictive. Nonpharmacological treatment may be a way to treat cancer pain without causing negative side effects. Mindfulness is used as an effective nonpharmacological treatment to improve quality of life (QoL) and to address psychological problems including distress, anxiety, stress, and depression. However, the effect of mindfulness on pain severity has not been sufficiently investigated. Therefore, a systematic review was undertaken to describe the effectiveness of mindfulness interventions for pain and its underlying pathophysiologic mechanisms. The search was conducted in PubMed, Ovid MEDLINE, and CINAHL and included only empirical studies published from 2008 to 2017. Search terms included mindfulness, mindfulness-based intervention, meditation, cancer, pain, and cancer-related pain. Six studies met the search criteria. These studies tested several types of intervention including mindfulness-based stress reduction, mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, meditation with massage, and mindful awareness practices. Study outcomes include improved pain severity, anxiety, stress, depression, and QoL. However, most studies reviewed were conducted in the United States and Denmark. Further research is needed to test culturally appropriate mindfulness interventions to reduce pain.

The McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ) pain quality descriptors have been analyzed to characterize the sensory, affective, and evaluative domains of pain, but have not been differentiated by pain location.To examine MPQ pain quality descriptors by pain location in outpatients with lung or prostate cancer.Cross sectional.Eleven oncology clinics or patients' homes.264 adult outpatients (80% male; mean age 62.2 ± 10.0 years, 85% White).Subjects completed a 100 mm visual analogue scale of pain intensity and MPQ clinic or home visit, marking sites where they had pain on a body outline and circling from 78 verbal descriptors those that described their pain. A researcher noted next to the descriptor spontaneous comments about sites feeling like a selected word and queried the subjects about any other words to obtain the site(s).Pain quality descriptors were assigned to all 7 pain locations marked by ≥ 20% of 198 lung or 66 prostate cancer patients. Four pain locations were marked with pain quality descriptors significanlty (p.05) more frequently for lung cancer (53% chest-aching, burning; 58% back-aching, stabbing; 48% head-aching, sharp; and 19% arms-aching, stabbing) than for prostate cancer, which had significantly more frequent pain locations in the abdomen (64%-aching, burning) and lower back/buttocks (55%-aching, burning).This type of pain characterization is innovative and has the potential to help implement targeted treatments for patients with cancer and other chronic pain conditions.

Background Pain pattern represents how the individual's pain changes temporally with activities or other factors, but researchers have studied less the pattern of pain than its location, intensity, and quality parameters. Objective The aim of this study was to explore differences in pain location, intensity, and quality by pattern groups in outpatients with cancer. Method We conducted a comparative, secondary data analysis of data collected from 1994 to 2007. Seven hundred sixty-two outpatients with cancer completed the 0- to 10-point Pain Intensity Number Scale and the McGill Pain Questionnaire to measure pain location, quality and pattern. From all possible combinations of the 3 types of pain patterns, we created 7 pain pattern groups. Results Pain pattern group distribution was as follows: pattern 1 (27%), 2 (24%), 3 (8%), 4 (12%), 5 (3%), 6 (18%), and 7 (8%). A significant higher proportion of patients with continuous pain pattern (patterns 1, 4, 5, and 7) reported pain location in 2 or more sites. Patients with patterns 1, 4, and 7 reported significantly higher worst pain mean scores than did patients with patterns 2, 3, and 6. Patients with pattern 7 reported significantly higher mean scores for the Pain Rating Index-sensory and total number of words selected than did patients with patterns 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6. Conclusions Using pain pattern groups may help nurses to understand temporal changes in cancer pain and to provide more effective pain management, especially if the pain has a continuous component. Implications for practice Nurses or clinicians who are taking care of patients with cancer should recognize that pain patterns are associated with pain location, intensity, and quality.