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Pain: A Major Front In The Battle Against Cancer

The recent announcement by Elizabeth Edwards,pain. External beam radiation, while
the wife of Democratic presidential candidateeffective, can only target a few painful
John Edwards, that her breast cancer haslesions  at  a  time.
recurred and spread to her bones, is not
something that any cancer survivor orAnother class of drugs used to treat
caregiver ever wants to hear. Fortunately,cancer-related bone pain is
Ms. Edwards and thousands of women fightingradiopharmaceuticals. Radiopharmaceuticals
recurrent breast cancer now have a greaterare drugs that combine a radionuclide
range of options to battle the disease and(radiation) with a pharmaceutical. Studies
its  many  negative effects, especially pain.have shown that most patients with a positive
bone scan who are suffering from pain can
Pain affects most people with cancer as theexperience relief lasting for months
disease progresses. One of the most commonfollowing a single injection with a
causes of pain in advanced cancer is boneradiopharmaceutical.
metastases (cancer that has spread to the
bone). Bone metastases occur in an estimatedIn the past, radiopharmaceuticals for bone
65-75 percent of patients with breast orpain have been underutilized due to concerns
prostate cancer and in 70-95 percent ofover myelosuppression (a drop in a patient's
patients with multiple myeloma (cancer thatwhite blood cell, red blood cell and/or
begins in the blood). As cancer progresses,platelet counts), and the belief that repeat
bone pain caused by metastases oftendoses  of  these  treatments cannot be given.
increases  in  intensity.
According to new research, however, one of
Fortunately, there are a number of treatmentthese agents, called Quadramet(r) (samarium
options available for bone pain. PotentialSM 153 lexidronam injection), may be more
treatments include opioid analgesics, whichuseful  than  previously  thought.
are prescription narcotic pain medicines; a
class of drugs called bisphosphonates, used"Quadramet can provide very long-lasting pain
to help strengthen bone and slow therelief for people with cancer suffering from
progression of bone metastases; and externalbone pain," said Dr. Oliver Sartor, M.D. from
beam radiation, where physicians target aDana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical
beam of radiation directly at painful boneSchool, Boston, Massachusetts. "We've also
lesions.found that multiple doses of Quadramet can be
given over time, and pain relief with each
All these options can be effective but havetreatment seems to be similar to what
downsides, too. For example, increasing dosespatients experience after their first dose,"
of opioid analgesics is usually necessary tohe  added.
control increasing pain. As doses increase,
so do side effects like excessive sleepiness,With cancer patients now living longer than
nausea and breathing difficulties.ever before, this is good news for those
Bisphosphonates, while helping to strengthensuffering from bone pain, and their doctors.
bone, are not very effective at controlling



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