癌症相關疼痛的中醫治療論述

Traditional Chinese Medicine Treatment for Cancer-related Pain

很多癌症都會產生疼痛，約有30-70%的病人會發生骨骼轉移的情形，因此頭痛，有可能是轉移的癌症，後頸部窒息感灼熱感，以及觸痛增加可能是鼻咽癌轉移的症狀，不但是癌症本身，癌細胞轉移之後造成的疼痛也是造成病患困擾的原因之一。凡此種種，均顯示癌症是相當難處理的，整體來說，中醫對痛之治療，對癌症轉移痛之緩解，有一定之效果，但是仍待更多研究證實，才可能有更進一步的發展，也才能提供更多更好的服務於臨床。

Many cancer patients experience pain. About 30-70% of the cancer patients were found to have bone metastases. Headache is a common presenting symptom in a patient with brain metastases. Suffocation and burning sensation over posterior neck as well as the increase in tenderness are thought to be related to nasopharyngeal metastases. The patients suffer not only from cancer but also from the pain caused by cancer metastases. These facts show that cancer treatment is very difficult to handle. On the whole, traditional Chinese medicine has certain effects on treating pain and relieving referred pain caused by cancer. But, it is required more studies to prove the effects in order to get further development and better clinical services.