Preprint
Review

Cancer Pain: Radiotherapy as a Double-Edged Sword

Submitted:

09 January 2025

Posted:

10 January 2025

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Abstract
Cancer pain is a common issue for patients, especially in advanced cancer stages and significantly affects quality of life (QoL), treatment tolerance, and overall treatment outcomes. Pain can arise from primary tumors, metastases, and as a result treatments like radiotherapy (RT). Effective pain management is crucial, especially with RT being a key method for alleviating cancer pain, particularly in cases of bone and soft tissue metastases. RT provides relief for 60-80% of patients by reducing tumor size and mitigating associated pain. Radiotherapy can also induce pain, especially radiation-induced neuropathic pain, which may require further treatment. Despite these potential side effects, RT remains an essential tool in managing cancer pain, though careful management of its toxicities is necessary to improve patient QoL and survival.
Keywords: 
Subject: 
Medicine and Pharmacology  -   Oncology and Oncogenics
Copyright: This open access article is published under a Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license, which permit the free download, distribution, and reuse, provided that the author and preprint are cited in any reuse.
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