• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.148-152
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• 2015

The goal of cancer treatment is generally pain reduction and function recovery. However, drug therapy does not treat pain adequately in approximately 43% of patients, and the latter may have to undergo a nerve block or neurolysis. In the case reported here, a 42-year-old female patient with lung cancer (adenocarcinoma) developed paraplegia after receiving T8-10 and $11^{th}$ intercostal nerve neurolysis and T9-10 interlaminar epidural steroid injections. An MRI results revealed extensive swelling of the spinal cord between the T4 spinal cord and conus medullaris, and T5, 7-11, and L1 bone metastasis. Although steroid therapy was administered, the paraplegia did not improve.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Fundamentals of Nursing
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.68-75
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• 2006

Purpose: This study was carried out to obtain basic data for developing effective pain management by identifying the positive and negative determinants for pain management in both cancer patients and their nurses. Method: The participants were 85 cancer patients and 78 nurses at C university hospital in Seoul. Data were collected from December 2004 to March 2005 using structured questionnaires. Results: The level of pain peaked at 5.02 when going into the hospital, and was then lowered to 2.08. The waiting time for analgesics was less than 30 minutes in 81.1% of the patients and for 68.2% answered that they reported their pain when the pain was no more endurable. Just over eighty percent (80.6%) of the patients were satisfied with the pain management. Only 10.3% of the nurses used a standardized tool for assessing patients, pain and 64.1% gave analgesics whenever patients complained of pain, while 19.2% did not when patients complained too frequently. Nurses who were unsatisfied with pain management accounted for 85.4% of the participants. Patients showed higher levels of barriers to pain management than nurses. Conclusion: There is a need to give cancer patients and nurses appropriate information on effective cancer pain management.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.206-220
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• 2001

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of depression, discomfort, spirituality, physical care, and opioid use on pain with terminally ill cancer patients residing in hospice units. The convenient sample of this study consisted of 41 terminally ill cancer patients at three hospice units in university affiliated hospitals. Patients were interviewed with structured questionnaires three times at predetermined intervals: admission to the hospice unit (Time 1), one week later (Time 2), and two weeks later (Time 3). The data was collected from January 1998 to January 1999 and was analyzed using ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficient, and multivariate multiple regression. 1. The mean age of the participants was approximately 55 years old. In terms of diagnosis, lung cancer showed the highest frequency (19.5%), followed by stomach cancer and rectal cancer (17.1%). The motive of seeking hospice unit admission was control (72. 2%), followed by spiritual care (50%), and symptom relief (38.9%). 2. Regarding the type of pain felt, the highest pain frequency the participants experienced was deep pain (55%), followed by multiple pain (25%), intestinal pain (10%), then superficial (5%) and neurogenic pain (5%). For the level of pain measured by VAS, there was no significant difference among the three time points; Time 1 (5.04$\pm$2.21), Time 2 (4.82$\pm$2.58) and Time 3(4.73$\pm$2.51). 3. There was significant change seen in spirituality and physical care in each time interval. Namely, the longer the length of admission at the hospice unit, the higher the importance of spirituality (p=0.0001) and the more the physical care the participants received (p=0.01). The opioid use at the three time points showed the following frequencies : Time 1 (75.6%), Time 2 (85.4%) and Time 3 (75.6%). 4. Regarding factors influencing pain, the pain level was significantly affected by the depression level (p〈0.01) and the opioid use (p〈0.1). These results were the most significant at the two time points (Time 1 and Time 2). At Time 3 (two weeks later), the pain level was significantly affected by the depression level (p〈0.05) and the amount of physical care the participants received (p〈0.1). In conclusion, the terminally ill cancer patients had moderate pain, were generally depressed, and were treated with opioid analgesics. As approaching death, the patients received more physical care due to increased physical symptoms experienced and they had a higher perception of the importance of spirituality. Thus, health care professionals need to provide continuous care for each of them to die comfortably physically, psycho- logically, and spiritually.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.119-122
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• 2011

A rotator cuff tear causes shoulder pain and limits movement of the shoulder joint. A chronic degenerative change or impingement is the reason for a rotator cuff tear. Diagnosis is made based on medical history and, physical and radiological examinations. Other causes of shoulder pain include calcific tendinitis, degenerative arthropathy, joint dislocation, fracture, and primary or metastatic neoplasm. However, metastatic cancer in the shoulder joint is difficult to diagnosis. We experienced a case in which a 46-year-old female patient complained of left shoulder pain and limited joint mobility, and these symptoms were due to metastatic breast cancer in the shoulder.

• The Korean Journal of Rehabilitation Nursing
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.43-58
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• 2000

Pain management is a major issue in caring of cancer patients. Patients' concerns for reporting pain and taking analgesics are patient-related barriers to the management of cancer pain. Since such study has not been done at all in Korea, it is clearly needed to study on these problems. The purpose of this study is to attain basic data in order to improve cancer pain management in Korea. This is done by: 1) examining the extent of patients' concerns that might be barriers to the optimal pain management, and the extent of related factors (pain management hesitancy, adequacy of using analgesics, pain severity and pain interference); 2) identifying the relationship between patients' concerns and the related factors. The data has been collected from 180 cancer patients who were hospitalized in medical wards of one university hospital in Seoul, Korea during the period from November 1, 1997 to February 28, 1998. The data has been collected through interviews with (1) Barriers Questionnaire - Korean Version (BQ-K); (2) Hesitancy Experience Questionnaires (HQ); (3) Pain Management Index (PMI); (4) Brief Pain Inventory (BPI); and (5) Demographic Data. The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics and by t-test, One-way ANOVA, Pearson correlation using SPSSWIN program. The Results are as following: 1) The mean scores of Pain Management Concerns (PMC) by BQ-K were toward the moderate with a little high points(2.59). Most of the patients (99.4%) had some extent of concerns (over lout of maximum 5 points). Among the eight subscales of BQ-K, the Pain Management Concerns (PMC) about 'Fear of tolerance' was the highest (3.80) and 'Worry about side effects' was the least (1.40). 2) The extent of Pain Management Hesitancy (PMH) by HQ of wnom had pain on the day of the interview was a little higher than moderate score(5.53 out of maximum 10 points). 6.7% of the patients with experiencing pain used less adequate analgesics for the severity of pain than they were expected. 27.8% of them never used any analgesics at all. The mean score of pain severity by BPI was 16.59 (maximum: 40), and that of the interference with daily life by BPI was 32.03 (maximum: 70). 3) The patients who were older, less educated, and in low socio-economic status were likely to have more concerns. Pain Management Concerns (PMC) was positively correlated with Pain Management Hesitancy (PMH) (r=.75), pain severity (r=.44) and pain interference (r=.50). Those who were not using adequate analgesics had higher Pain Management Concerns (PMC) than did those who were using adequate analgesics (t=-5.42). The patients who had more Pain Management Concerns (PMC) tended to hesitate more to report pain and to use analgesics. They used more inadequate analgesics for the severity of pain and also had experienced more pain severity and interference with daily life. In conclusion, the patients' concerns for reporting pain and for using analgesics are major patient-related barriers to cancer pain management in Korea. The patients' concerns were correlated significantly with the level of the hesitancy experience, inadequate use of analgesics, the pain severity and the interference with daily life. Considering this, an educational program for cancer patients under the treatment with analgesics should be developed in order to solve these problems.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapy
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.69-74
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• 2017

Background: To compare the effects of scapular stabilization exercise on the range of motion, pain, and function in the shoulders of women with breast cancer surgery. Methods: Fifteen patients were performed scapular stabilizing training using dumbbells for 30 minutes daily, five times per week for 4 weeks. The range of motion, pain, and function in the shoulder were assessed. Goniometer was used for ROM of shoulder external rotation. Shoulder pain and disability index was used for pain and function of shoulder. Comparison of the pre and post intervention was calculated by a paired t-test. Results: After 4 weeks of training, range of motion, pain and function in the shoulder improved significantly in patients with breast cancer surgery (p<.05). Conclusion: These findings indicate the more favorable effects from scapular stabilization exercise in patients with breast cancer surgery.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.60-66
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• 2000

Background: For terminal cancer pain management, controlled-release oral morphine (morphine sulfate tablet, MST) is a simple and convenient regimen. Recently, fentanyl transdermal therapeutic system (F-TTS, transdermal fentanyl) has been developed and became one of the alternative ways of providing adequate pain relief. This open prospective study was designed to compare the analgesic efficacy and safety of MST and transdermal fentanyl in the management of terminal cancer pain. Methods: In this open comparative and randomized study, 64 terminal cancer patients received one treatment for 15 days, controlled-release oral morphine (MST group) or fentanyl transdermal therapeutic system (F-TTS group). Daily diaries about the vital sign, visual analogue scale (VAS) for pain, opioids requirement, co-anagesics, adjuvant drugs and adverse effects were completed with 24 patients in MST group, 18 patients in F-TTS group. Results: The majority of patients in both treatment groups were late-stage cancer and their distribution was not different in both groups. Daily opioids requirement was 126.4 mg in MST uced in F-TTS group (P<0.05). The incidence of nausea, vomiting and constipation was lower in F-TTS group (P<0.05). Patients satisfaction was similar, but F-TTS patient group favored continous use of same treatment compared with MST group after the study was finished. Conclusions: Transdermal fentanyl seems to be safe and similar analgesic effect to controlled-release oral morphine for the control of the terminal cancer patients. However, transdermal fentanyl provides a simpler and more convenient especially in respect to constipation, nausea & vomiting. To determine the exact analgesic effect, cost-effectiveness and complications, controlled trials should be followed.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.62 no.2
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• pp.140-143
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• 2007

A 60-year-old man was diagnosed with locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer. He refused treatment with a curative aim and was treated conservatively. Pain had developed on his shoulder and chest wall, which became worse as the cancer progressed. Although his pain initially appeared to be relieved with weak opioids and analgesics, it became more severe Strong opioids (transdermal fentanly patch and oxycodone), antidepressant or epidural block were introduced, However, the background pain became more intense and reached up to 8~9/10 on the visual analog scale (VAS). The dose of the transdermal fentanl patch was gradually increased to $600{\mu}g/hr$, which resulted in a dramatic improvement in his pain (9/10 of VAS) to 3/10 for most of the time. We described the successful experience with a high dose transdermal fentanyl patch for cancer pain relief, which might be an alternative option for cancer patients suffering from severe pain.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.43-50
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• 2023

Background and Objective: With the advancement of cancer treatments and increased life expectancy, managing breakthrough cancer pain (BTcP) is essential to improve the quality of life for cancer patients. This study aimed to compare the major rapid onset opioids in Korea based on their characteristics and costs to determine the best option for each patient. Methods: Based on sales information from IQVIA-MIDAS, sublingual fentanyl tablet (SLF), fentanyl buccal tablet (FBT), and oral transmucosal fentanyl citrate (OTFC) were selected as the top three drugs for the treatment of BTcP in Korea, considering them the most comparable drugs. The cost and cost-pain relief ratio of the drugs for short-term (1 month) and long-term (1 year) treatment were compared and the ease of administration based on various factors, including pharmacokinetics, onset of action, and administration procedures were evaluated. Results: SLF was evaluated as the best overall in terms of rapid onset of action, ease of administration, and drug cost and also had the highest market share. SLF had the lowest cost pain relief ratio for both the initial and supplemental treatment for the 1-month pain intensity difference 15 (PID15) ratio. However, for the 1-month PID30 ratio, SLF was not superior to OTFC or FBT. The longer the breakthrough cancer pain duration, the more cost-effective the other rapid onset opioids. Conclusion: The rapid onset opioids that fit the patient's breakthrough cancer pain pattern have the best cost-effectiveness.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.356-357
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• 2022