Chronic pain management in the cancer survivor: tips for primary care providers

Chronic and episodic stress predict physical symptom bother following breast cancer diagnosis

Breast cancer patients often experience adverse physical side effects of medical treatments. According to the biobehavioral model of cancer stress and disease, life stress during diagnosis and treatment may negatively influence the trajectory of women's physical health-related adjustment to breast cancer. This longitudinal study examined chronic and episodic stress as predictors of bothersome physical symptoms during the year after breast cancer diagnosis. Women diagnosed with breast cancer in the previous 4 months (N = 460) completed a life stress interview for contextual assessment of chronic and episodic stress severity at study entry and 9 months later. Physical symptom bother (e.g., pain, fatigue) was measured at study entry, every 6 weeks through 6 months, and at nine and 12 months. In multilevel structural equation modeling (MSEM) analyses, both chronic stress and episodic stress occurring shortly after diagnosis predicted greater physical symptom bother over the study period. Episodic stress reported to have occurred prior to diagnosis did not predict symptom bother in MSEM analyses, and the interaction between chronic and episodic stress on symptom bother was not significant. Results suggest that ongoing chronic stress and episodic stress occurring shortly after breast cancer diagnosis are important predictors of bothersome symptoms during and after cancer treatment. Screening for chronic stress and recent stressful life events in the months following diagnosis may help to identify breast cancer patients at risk for persistent and bothersome physical symptoms. Interventions to prevent or ameliorate treatment-related physical symptoms may confer added benefit by addressing ongoing non-cancer-related stress in women's lives.

Dispositional and Situational Avoidance and Approach as Predictors of Physical Symptom Bother Following Breast Cancer Diagnosis

BACKGROUND

Few studies examine whether dispositional approach and avoidance coping and stressor-specific coping strategies differentially predict physical adjustment to cancer-related stress.

PURPOSE

This study examines dispositional and situational avoidance and approach coping as unique predictors of the bother women experience from physical symptoms after breast cancer treatment, as well as whether situational coping mediates the prediction of bother from physical symptoms by dispositional coping.

METHOD

Breast cancer patients (N = 460) diagnosed within the past 3 months completed self-report measures of dispositional coping at study entry and of situational coping and bother from physical symptoms every 6 weeks through 6 months.

RESULTS

In multilevel structural equation modeling analyses, both dispositional and situational avoidance predict greater symptom bother. Dispositional, but not situational, approach predicts less symptom bother. Supporting mediation models, dispositional avoidance predicts more symptom bother indirectly through greater situational avoidance. Dispositional approach predicts less symptom bother through less situational avoidance.

CONCLUSION

Psychosocial interventions to reduce cancer-related avoidance coping are warranted for cancer survivors who are high in dispositional avoidance and/or low in dispositional approach.

Neuropathic pain in cancer survivors

The occurrence of pain in cancer survivors may be debilitating. These pain syndromes may be of different types, including neuropathic pain. The research related to cancer management has been done extensively in certain areas, but such research in cancer survivors is still lacking. The chronic pain in cancer survivors is not only under-reported but also under-treated. The assessment of pain in cancer survivors is multifaceted because of many domains like physical, social and psychological. Usually, the pain management may be considered similar to that for chronic noncancer pain, but with a caveat that such pain may at times be indicative of cancer recurrence. The multidisciplinary and multimodal management is essential for such neuralgic pain in cancer survivors. This may require a balanced combination of pharmacological and nonpharmacological techniques, including psychological support. The overall goal that remains in such patients for pain management is to improve the quality of life. Here we review certain pertinent aspects of neuropathic pain in cancer survivors.