Extrahepatic Bile Duct Cancer Treatments – Pain Management

Pain Management for Extrahepatic Bile Duct Cancer

During the course of the disease, many patients with advanced extrahepatic bile duct cancer may experience some level of pain. The care team at Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) is acutely aware that unrelieved pain can significantly diminish your quality of life. Our pain management team provides a variety of therapeutic approaches to help relieve your pain so you can cope better during your extrahepatic bile duct cancer treatment.

Pain Classifications

There are two types of cancer pain: acute and chronic. Typically, acute pain is the result of tissue damage and is of limited duration. Once its cause has been identified, acute pain can usually be managed successfully. Chronic pain, on the other hand, is persistent, generally lasting more than three months in duration. Often the cause of chronic pain is inalterable, causing your nervous system to adapt. This can result in depression, anxiety, and/or insomnia.

Causes of Cancer Pain

Each person experiences pain differently. The severity and prevalence of your pain depends on many factors, including the site and stage of the extrahepatic bile duct cancer, as well as your age, personality, perception, pain threshold, and past experiences with pain. In addition, psychological factors, such as fear, can influence pain. Insomnia, fatigue and anxiety may lower the pain threshold, while rest, sleep and diversion can raise it. Cancer-related pain can result from the disease process itself and from the treatment process.

Cancer Pain Assessment

An accurate assessment of your pain experience helps your CTCA care team determine which pain management techniques will be best suited to your needs. To make an assessment, the pain management team may examine any of the following dimensions of your pain:

• Location
• Intensity
• Factors influencing its occurrence (i.e., what makes it better or worse)
• Observed behaviors during pain
• Psychosocial variables (e.g., attitudes, situational factors)
• Effects of therapy and patterns of coping

Cancer Pain Management Plan

Pain relief is not the only goal of pain management. It is also intended to help you maintain your normal quality of life throughout your extrahepatic bile duct cancer treatment. At CTCA, your care team will incorporate various pain management techniques into your treatment plan. All methods of pain management attempt to either control the cause of the pain or alter your perception of it.

Although there are several different pain management techniques, therapeutic approaches can be classified in two ways: pharmacological or non-pharmacological. Pharmacological pain control involves the use of pain medications (analgesics), as well as other medications that intensify the analgesics' effects or modify your mood or pain perception.

The following are some non-pharmacological approaches to pain management:

• Behavioral techniques
• Emotional counseling and support
• Radiation to shrink the tumor
• Surgery to remove part or all of the tumor
• Neurological and neurosurgical interventions
• Traditional nursing and psychosocial interventions

The latter approaches attempt to promote your comfort during extrahepatic bile duct cancer treatment and to evaluate the effectiveness of the therapy. Because of the complex nature of cancer-related pain, successful management usually involves integrating several different techniques into your cancer treatment plan.

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