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Cancer pain

Iain Grant and Jenny Helm

In 1998, he orris Animal ealth oundation Quality of life and cancer-
Survey stated that cancer was a leading cause associated pain
of death in both dogs and cats. Although the
gure for dogs was higher than for cats any owners and professionals agree to a
47 versus , companion animal cancer protocol of cancer management if it is possible
is clearly a ma or concern for veterinary to maintain a pet s uality of life oL
surgeons veterinarians and pet owners. throughout. oL is a multi dimensional concept,
uman studies indicate a high prevalence
of cancer pain, particularly in patients with which includes assessment of a patient s pain
advanced tumours eefe et al., . As Velikova et al., 1999; see Chapter and
many veterinary patients present with Appendix 1 . or the ma ority of pet owners, the
advanced cancer ason et al., , a occurrence of cancer associated pain and
signi cant proportion may therefore have particularly the inability to control it e ectively
experienced pain before undergoing any de nes a diminishing oL and is a common
medical evaluation or treatment; however, the reason to elect for euthanasia. he importance
precise prevalence of cancer pain is unknown. of recogni ing cancer associated pain and
In advanced cases, the ma ority of pain trying to treat it e ectively, therefore, cannot
is associated directly with the in ltrative be understated.
growth of the tumour or its metastases, with a
smaller proportion due to the side e ects of
therapy Christo and a loomdoost, . Recognizing or predicting
o include both direct and treatment related cancer-associated pain
e ects, the authors believe that the term
cancer associated pain better describes Similar to infants, veterinary patients are unable
this problem. Cancer associated pain has to provide information rst hand of their
signi cant implications in terms of patient sub ective pain experience, for example where
welfare and is likely, therefore, to strongly pain is locali ed or its intensity or nature. his
in uence the clinician s approach to therapy. relies on assessment by the owner or the health

BSAVA Guide to Pain Management in Small Animal Practice. Edited by Ian Self. ©BSAVA 2019 153

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