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2012 Oct-Dec; Vol 3, No 4:e1 |
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Pharmacological and Other Interventions for Head and Neck Cancer Pain: a Systematic Review J Oral Maxillofac Res 2012 (Oct-Dec);3(4):e1 doi:10.5037/jomr.2012.3401 |
Pharmacological and Other Interventions for Head and Neck Cancer Pain: a Systematic Review
1School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, United Kingdom.
2University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany.
3Department of Otolaryngology, Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, Aberdeen, United Kingdom.
Corresponding author:
University of Aberdeen Dental School
Cornhill Road, Foresterhill
Aberdeen, AB25 2ZR
United Kingdom
Phone: (+44) (0)1224 551585
Fax: (+44) (0)1224 554761
E-mail: Tatiana.Macfarlane@abdn.ac.uk
ABSTRACT
Objectives: Pain is a common complication in head and neck cancer. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the evidence from randomised control trials investigating pharmacological and non-pharmacological methods of pain management in head and neck cancer.
Material and Methods: Medline, Embase and the Cochrane library databases were searched. Squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck excluding nasopharyngeal and salivary gland cancers were included. The limits were "human" and "randomised clinical trials". A quality assessment was carried out.
Results: 13 studies were included with a total of 644 participants. The primary outcome for most of these papers was pain control post-treatment. Levels of bias varied between the studies. Majority (12 out of the 13 studies) reported intervention to be superior to the control or standard therapy in pain management. Only 46% of the studies were carried out on an intention to treat basis. Two studies reported high dropout rates, with one at 66%.
Conclusions: There is insufficient evidence from randomised clinical trials to suggest an optimal pharmacological intervention for head and neck cancer pain post-treatment. Further high quality randomised clinical trials should be conducted to develop an optimal management strategy for head and neck cancer pain.
J Oral Maxillofac Res 2012 (Oct-Dec);3(4):e1
doi:10.5037/jomr.2012.3401
Accepted for publication: 20 December 2012
Keywords: head and neck neoplasms; postoperative pain; opioid analgesics; pain measurement; systematic review.
To cite this article: Pharmacological and Other Interventions for Head and Neck Cancer Pain: a Systematic Review. J Oral Maxillofac Res 2012;3(4):e1 URL: http://www.ejomr.org/JOMR/archives/2012/4/e1/v3n4e1ht.htm |
Received: 20 November 2012 | Accepted: 20 December 2012 | Published: 1 January 2013
Copyright: © The Author(s). Published by JOMR under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 licence, 2013.