Vol 14, No 2 (2020)
Case report
Published online: 2020-05-29
Methadone in the treatment of bone pain in a patient with disseminated breast cancer
123
, 4, 1, 1, 5
, 4, 1, 1, 5
Palliat Med Pract 2020;14(2):115-119.
Abstract
Treatment of pain is an important element of therapeutic management in cancer patients. The article presents
the case of a patient diagnosed with breast cancer, which spread to the liver and lungs and presenting
with severe bone pain syndrome caused by lumbosacral metastases. Treatment of pain with non-opioid
analgesics, opioids, analgesic adjuvants and palliative radiotherapy proved ineffective. The addition of
small doses of methadone to the applied pharmacotherapy produced a satisfactory analgesic effect and a
significant functional improvement (an ability to move around without increased pain) as well as ensured
a better quality of patient’s life.
Keywords: adverse effectsmethadoneopioid analgesicspainquality of lifetreatment
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