SynthesisSupportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer2016
Interventional options for the management of refractory cancer pain--what is the evidence?
Synthesis in Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 51 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effectiveness of percutaneous cervical cordotomy in intractable cancer pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Neurosurgical review · 2026Pooled it
- Standards for the management of cancer-related pain across Europe-A position paper from the EFIC Task Force on Cancer Pain.European journal of pain (London, England) · 2019Guideline
- Multidimensional Treatment of Cancer Pain.Current oncology reports · 2017Pooled it
- Evidence-Based Nursing Management of Semi-Implantable Intrathecal Drug Delivery Systems for Refractory Cancer Pain: Protocol Development and Clinical Evaluation.Nursing & health sciences · 2026Article
- The Missing Link: Integrating Interventional Pain Management in the Era of Multimodal Oncology.Pain and therapy · 2025Review
- [Treatment of cancer-related pain-From pharmacotherapy to invasive procedures].Die Anaesthesiologie · 2025Review
- The use of interventional procedures for cancer pain. A brief review.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2024Review
- Availability of, Barriers to Performing, and Educational Practices of Interventional Procedures for Refractory Pain in Cancer Patients: A Nationwide Survey of Designated Cancer Hospitals in Japan.Palliative medicine reports · 2024Article
- Minimally invasive interventional therapy for pain.Journal of interventional medicine · 2023Article
- Predictors of Nurse Practitioner Prescription of Opioids for Cancer Pain: Quantitative Results.Journal of the advanced practitioner in oncology · 2023Article
- Availability of and factors related to interventional procedures for refractory pain in patients with cancer: a nationwide survey.BMC palliative care · 2022Article
- PALLIATIVE TREATMENT OF INTRACTABLE CANCER PAIN.Acta clinica Croatica · 2022Review
- Review
- An Overview of Current Recommendations and Options for the Management of Cancer Pain: A Comprehensive Review.Oncology and therapy · 2020Review
- Article
- The Role of Ablation in Cancer Pain Relief.Current oncology reports · 2019Review
- Metastatic Osseous Pain Control: Bone Ablation and Cementoplasty.Seminars in interventional radiology · 2017Review
- Complementary Role of Intervention Radiology in Palliative Care in Oncology Setting.Indian journal of palliative careArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposePain is the most common symptom in cancer patients. Standard pain treatment according to the WHO three-step analgesic ladder provides effective pain management in approximately 70-90% of cancer patients. Refractory pain is defined as not responding to "standard" treatments. Interventional analgesic techniques can be used in an attempt to control refractory pain in patients in whom conventional analgesic strategies fail to provide effective pain relief or are intolerable due to severe adverse effects. This systematic review aims to provide the latest evidence on interventional refractory pain management in cancer patients.
methodsSystematic literature search in Cochrane, EMBASE and PubMed including reviews and randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and non-randomised controlled trials in the absence of reviews.
resultsNeuraxial analgesia may play a role in refractory cancer pain management. Paravertebral blocks decrease the incidence of persistent post-surgical pain after breast cancer. Coeliac plexus blocks improve pain scores in refractory pancreatic cancer pain for up to 4 weeks after the intervention with fewer burdensome side effects as compared to opioids. Cordotomy has mainly been studied in mesothelioma, and the case series suggest possible benefit for pain at the expense of a relatively high risk of side effects.
conclusionsOverall, very few RCTs have been conducted on interventional pain techniques. In reality, it is very difficult to undertake large controlled trials for a number of reasons. Therefore, today's best evidence for practice may be from large case series of comparable patients with careful response and toxicity evaluation and follow-up.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.