101: Persistent Post-Operative Pain in Cancer Survivors

Airing Pain

This edition is funded by The Agnes Hunter Trust.

An ever-increasing cancer survivor rate means chronic pain associated with the condition and its treatment is growing. In the UK alone, cancer survivor rates have doubled in the last 40 years, from 24% to 50%.*

In this edition of Airing Pain, Paul Evans speaks to Dr Paul Farquhar-Smith, consultant in anaesthesia and pain medicine at The Royal Marsden Hospital in London, and co-author of Pain in cancer curvivors; filling in the gaps.

Dr Farquhar-Smith explains how post-surgical pain in cancer survivors can be caused by damage to the nervous system, what cancer treatments may be associated with this pain, and what pre-surgery steps can be taken to reduce it.

Contributors:

• Dr Paul Farquhar-Smith, Consultant in Anaesthesia at the Royal Marsden Hospital London, and co-author, with Dr Mathew Brown, of Pain in cancer survivors; filling in the gaps.

More information:

• Pain in cancer survivors; filling in the gaps
• Macmillan's page on cancer pain

*http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/health-professional/cancer-statistics/survival