• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.56-60
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• 2009

More than 80% of cancer-related pain is pharmacologically controllable, whereas $10{\sim}20%$ of patients require interventional treatments. Neurolytic nerve block can play a major role in cancer pain treatment, and it has been proposed to prevent the development of pain and improve the quality of life of patients with cancer. If the pain is well localized and restricted to certain peripheral parts of the body, spinal peripheral or sympathetic nerve blocks may result in excellent therapeutic effects. Neurolytic sympathetic block, especially Celiac plexsus block (CPB) performed in earlier stages, is effective with successful long term results. However, selection of patients is critical for succeful outcomes. Neurolytic plexus block significantly improves the quality of life of patients and reduces abdominal and pelvic cancer pain, analgesic consumption and adverse opioids-related side effects. Interventional pain management should be considered at earlier stages to provide patients with the best quality of life possible.

• Journal of Digestive Cancer Research
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.95-100
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• 2015

Currently, inappropriate information regarding cancer is being disseminated indiscreetly via the media and Internet. Many people are confused due to the mixed presence of facts and misinformation concerning cancer. Owing to the flood of information, especially that concerning gastrointestinal cancer (the most common cancer in Korea), patients with gastrointestinal cancers, their family members, and medical staff, as well as the general public, are faced with a number of problems in understanding, treating, and overcoming this type of cancer. Therefore, investigating the level of recognition for and understanding of gastrointestinal cancers among these populations is very important for the prevention, diagnosis, and management of this disease. This review article investigated the differences in the recognition levels of the general understanding, prevention, quality of life, pain control, and the ethical issues of gastrointestinal cancer treatment among the general public, patients with gastrointestinal cancers, their family members, and medical staff via surveys.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.5-10
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• 2020

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate celiac plexus neurolysis (CPN) for the treatment of cancerous upper abdominal pain in a tertiary university hospital in Korea. Methods: At the tertiary university hospital in Korea, electronic medical records of cancer patients who underwent CPN and died in the hospital from November 2009 to June 2018 were retrospectively analyzed. Results: The total number of subjects was 51. The 17 patients were from the Department of Gastroenterology (33.0%), followed by 11 patients from the Department of Hemato-oncology (21.6%), 11 patients from the Department of Anesthesia and Pain Medicine (21.6%), 9 patients from the Department of General Surgery (17.6%). The diagnosis was pancreatic cancer in 15 patients (29.4%), stomach cancer in 8 patients (15.7%), hepatobiliary cancer in 20 patients (39.2%), colon cancer in 1 patient (2.0%), esophageal cancer in 2 patient (3.9%) and intra-abdominal metastasis in 5 patients (9.8%). The mean survival time after the surgery was 66.4±55.0 days. The pain intensity before and 1 week after the procedure significantly decreased, but the amounts of opioids consumed before and 1 week after the procedure were not statistically significant. Side effects occurred after the procedure including temporary localized pain in 24 patients (47.0%), hypotension in 12 (23.5%), and diarrhea in 6 (11.8%). Conclusion: CPN is an effective and safe procedure for reducing upper abdominal pain caused by cancer, and it is necessary to perform CPN within the appropriate time by establishing a system of interdepartmental cooperation.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.12
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• pp.4939-4944
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• 2014

The purpose of this study was through a survey of awareness of cancer and cancer screening of Korean community residents to identify the stereotypes of cancer and bases for development of improved screening programs for early detection. Subjects were residing in South Korea Gangwon-Province and were over 30 years and under 69 years old. The total was 2,700 persons which underwent structured telephone survey questionnaires considered with specific rates of gender, region, and age. For statistical analysis, PASW Statistics 17.0 WIN was utilized. Frequency analysis, the Chi-square (${\chi}^2$) test for univariate analysis, and logistic regression analysis were performed. The awareness of cancer and cancer screening in subjects differed by gender, region and age. For the idea of cancer, women thought about death less than men (OR: 0.73, p<0.001). On the other hand, women had negative thoughts - fear/terror/suffering/pain/pain - more than their male counterparts (OR: 2.04, p<0.001). Next, for the idea of cancer screening, women recognized fear/terror more than men (OR: 1.38, p<0.01). The higher age, the more tension/anxiety/worry/burden/irritated/pressure (OR: 1.43, p<0.01, OR: 2.15, p<0.001, OR: 2.49, p<0.001)). People may be reminded of fear and death for cancer and of fear, terror, tension and anxiety for cancer screening. To change vague fear and negative attitudes of cancer could increase the rate of cancer screening as well as help to improve the quality of life for community cancer survivors and facilitate return to normal social life. Therefore, it is necessary to provide promotion and education to improve the awareness of cancer and cancer screening.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.164-172
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• 1995

Pain management of postoperative patients or patients suffering from terminal cancer became one of the most important task of nurses in recent years. This study analyzed basic knowledge of 175 student nurses in Taegu on the pain assessment and management. The questionnaires included five areas : Assessment, pharmacological actions, medication, classification of opioids, and psychological dependence of analgesics. The results indicated that nursing students, in general, lacked knowledge on pain management : Correct responses on pain assessment varied between 9.7 and 100% , classification of opioids was in ranges of 61.7 to 95.4% ; Pharmacological actions was 16.6 to 80% : and medication was 14.9 to 85.7%. Less than 12.6% of students correctly identified the frequency of psychological dependence. These results suggested that the need of reinforcement on the pain management in formal nursing education.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Fundamentals of Nursing
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.382-389
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• 2006

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of Patient Controlled Analgesia (PCA) on the postoperative patient's pain management and recovery of bowel movement with gastrointestinal cancer Method: The participants were 249 patients diagnosed with gastrointestinal disease and scheduled for elective surgery, who were recruited to either the postoperative patient-controlled analgesia group or epidural analgesia group. Participants aged 20 and above were recruited from P, K, D, and I university hospitals in B city. Pain visual analogue scale, and recovery of bowel movement according to PCA-related characteristics were measured using structured questionnaires from April 2005 through December 2005. Descriptive statistics t-test and F-test were used to analyze the data. SPSS WIN 10.0 program was used. Results: Mean score for pain was 62.31. Scores for pain on the visual analogue scale were significantly lower in the epidural-PCA than in the intravenous PCA, and also significantly lower in the absence of side effect of PCA than in the presence of side effect. Recovery time for bowel movement was significantly faster in the absence of side effect of PCA than in the presence of side effect. Conclusion: Based on the findings, there is a significant difference in pain and no difference in first passage of flatus according to PCA infusion route in patients who are post-operative for gastrointestinal cancer.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Fundamentals of Nursing
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.181-189
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• 2009

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of cancer-overcome BeHaS exercise program on pain, flexibility, grip strength and stress in patient with breast cancer following surgery. Method: Study was designed as a non-synchronized research method with a nonequivalent control group. Data collection was performed from September 2007 to January 1, 2008. Participants were 34 patients (experimental group: 19, control group: 15) undergoing surgery for breast cancer in a hospital in D city. Women in the experimental group were participated in the cancer-overcome BeHaS (Be Happy and Strong) exercise program for 60 minutes per session once a week for 8 weeks and it was recommended that they do the exercises once more each week at home. The control group received one education session on breast cancer management. Results: There were no significant differences between the two groups for pain, flexibility or grip strength. But stress in experimental group was significantly decreased compared to that of the control group. Conclusion: This result suggests that cancer-overcome BeHaS exercise program is helpful to reduce stress in patients after breast cancer surgery. Further research is needed for multi-dimensional evaluation on psycho-social effects of cancer-overcome BeHaS exercise program.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.238-247
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• 2004

Purpose: Pain management is often needlessly suboptimal. Health care professionals are seldom trained in pain management, may not realize the importance of pain management or recognize that a patient is in pain, and may fear prescribing opioid medications. Noting that one of the problems related to health care professionals is poor assessment of pain, we studied a trend of pain severity and satisfaction with pain controls after using TTS-fentanyl in order to determine whether a regular pain assessment was effective for controlling cancer pain. Methods: We assessed the pain as a $5^{th}$ vital sign after using TTS-fentanyl in 471 hospitalized cancer patients during 4 days. The data were collected from September, 2003 to December, 2003. Pain severity was assessed by using a numeric pain intensity scale($0{\sim}10$) by ongoing pain assessment. Results: Pain assessment as a $5^{th}$ vital sign had led to reduce patient's pain scores. High degrees of satisfaction scores in both patients and doctors with TTS-fentanyl were observed. They were also negatively correlated with the pain severity. Conclusion: Regular pain assessment was effective in the management of cancer pain.

• The Journal of Korean Academic Society of Nursing Education
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.41-51
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• 2007

Purpose: This research studied the nurses' knowledge and attitude about pain management. Method: The research subjects were 465 nurses working at three university hospitals in Seoul and at one university hospital in Kyunggi-do. The survey results were collected between October 13 and 21 in 2004. Result: The overall mean score of correct answers on knowledge about pain management was 73.34, general knowledge 71.08, and cancer pain control was 93.93. Similarly, the mean score of correct answers on knowledge about the classification of analgesics was 75.89, while the knowledge of their use was only 52.48. The overall characteristics related to the degree of the nurses' knowledge about pain management were their educational background and their experiences of pain education. In a similar view, the overall characteristics related to the knowledge about the classification of analgesics were age and religion. Likewise, the use of analgesics was related to field of service and the experience of pain education. Finally, the overall characteristics related to the nurse's attitude toward pain management were their field of service and their position. Conclusion: The results of this study could be useful to institutions involved in the education and application of patient pain management.

• Journal of Korean Clinical Nursing Research
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.61-70
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• 2008

Purpose: Women with gynecologic cancer often experience various physical and psychological symptoms relating to the cancer and its treatment. The purpose of this study was to identify symptom clusters. Method: A survey was conducted on 184 women with diagnoses of cervical, ovarian or endometrial cancer. Fifty symptoms were assessed for prevalence, severity and interference, and symptom clusters were identified. Cluster analysis was done using SPSS version 12.0. Results: Fatigue was identified as the most prevalent symptom (81.52%), lack of vaginal lubrication (2.26) as the most severe symptom, and lack of vaginal lubrication as the most interfering one (2.15). Identified six clusters were: Anorexia-pain cluster (loss of appetite, taste change, weight loss, appearance change, alopecia, weakness, pain), Fatigue cluster (lack of concentration, lack of memory, fatigue, dry mouth), Urinary-bowel distress cluster (urinary difficulty, constipation), Abdominal discomfort cluster (lower abdominal pain, abdominal pain, bloating), Emotional distress (sadness, anxiety-worry, nervousness, restlessness), and Menopausal cluster (sweating, hot flush, fever). Conclusion: The result of this study provides fundamental data to health care professionals in developing interventions for effective symptom management for women with gynecologic cancer by understanding identified 6 symptom clusters.