ReviewPain and therapy2023
Refractory Cancer Pain and Intrathecal Therapy: Critical Review of a Systematic Review.
Review in Pain and therapy, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 2 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
14 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Spinal analgesia in cancer pain management-MASCC general practice recommendations.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2025Guideline
- Risk factors and clinical significance of refractory pain in patients with bone metastases: a comprehensive meta-analysis.Frontiers in neurology · 2025Pooled it
- Oxycodone combined with pulsed radiofrequency for refractory cancer pain from spinal metastases: a randomized controlled study.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2026Trial
- Conventional versus high-voltage, long-term pulse Radiofrequency of ganglion impar in perineal pain with advanced rectal cancer: a Randomized, double-blind controlled trial.BMC anesthesiology · 2024Trial
- Real-World Complication Profiles of Fully and Semi-Implanted Intrathecal Drug Delivery Systems for Cancer Pain: A Large Single-Center Chinese Cohort.Pain and therapy · 2026Article
- Evidence-Based Nursing Management of Semi-Implantable Intrathecal Drug Delivery Systems for Refractory Cancer Pain: Protocol Development and Clinical Evaluation.Nursing & health sciences · 2026Article
- Treatment-related pain in refractory cancer pain: prevalence, mechanisms, and clinical implications in a tertiary referral cohort.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2026Article
- Development of a self-management manual for patients with refractory cancer pain treated with a semi-implantable intrathecal drug delivery system: a Delphi study.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2026Article
- Neurotoxicological Evaluation of Intrathecal Citrate Excipients: Calcium Homeostasis Disruption and Safety Implications in CNS Drug Delivery.Pharmaceutics · 2025Article
- Patient-controlled subcutaneous analgesia with hydromorphone in cancer pain management.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Underutilized treatments for patients with refractory cancer pain: a qualitative study assessing the use of intrathecal drug delivery devices in the United Kingdom compared to alternative treatments in cancer pain management.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Efficacy and safety of single and double catheter intrathecal drug delivery systems in patients with refractory neck and abdominal cancer pain.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Effects of palliative intrathecal analgesia on patients with refractory cancer bone pain.Journal of anesthesia · 2024Article
- Interventional Nerve Procedures for Pain Related to Head-and-Neck Cancer: A Systematic Review.Indian journal of palliative careReview
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
This critical review assessed the advantages of invasive procedures that were recently included in systematic reviews, to evaluate whether the definition of refractory pain condition was correctly followed to select patients for invasive interventions and to analyze how data were positively interpreted. A total of 21 studies were selected for the purpose of this review. Three were randomized controlled studies, ten were prospective studies, and eight were retrospective studies. Analysis of these studies showed evident lack of proper assessment before implantation for different reasons. These included an optimistic interpretation regarding the outcomes, poor consideration of complications, and inclusion of patients with short survival. Moreover, the indication of intrathecal therapy as a condition in which a patient has failed to respond to multiple therapies provided by a pain or palliative care physician or at sufficient doses for adequate durations, as suggested by a recent research group, has been disregarded. Regretfully, this can discourage the use of intrathecal therapy in patients who are unresponsive to multiple opioid strategies subtrahend a potent means to be used in a very selective population.
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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.