Treatment of pruritus in malignant diseases

Zbigniew Zylicz; Małgorzata Krajnik

Vol 8, No 1 (2009)

Review articles

Published online: 2009-02-06

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Treatment of pruritus in malignant diseases

Zbigniew Zylicz, Małgorzata Krajnik

Advances in Palliative Medicine 2009;8(1):7-12.

Vol 8, No 1 (2009)

Review articles

Published online: 2009-02-06

Abstract

Severe pruritus is a rare complication of cancer. Although many patients with or without cancer suffer of mild pruritus due to generic causes like dry skin, candida infections and local inflammation, very few suffer severe pruritus. Similarly to the concept of "cancer pain", there is nothing like "pruritus of cancer", no common mechanism and no common treatment. Thorough analysis and deduction as well as laboratory and image investigations are necessary to unravel possible cause and help choose appropriate treatment. Many treatments, appear to be effective against pruritus judging from the number of case reports, but render ineffective in controlled clinical trials.