Evaluation of additional prednisolone administration with analgesics to cancer pain

Abstract

We evaluated analgesic effects of oral prednisolone for cancer pain in 33 patients who had been treated with ordinary analgesics according to the WHO method for relief of cancer pain. The patients were divided into two groups, those with dull pain caused from bone metastasis and others with neuropathic pain caused from nerve compression by tumors. We administered prednisolone orally for nine days with the stepwise decrements; 30mg for the first three days, 20mg for the second three days and 10mg for the last three days. This treatment decreased pain scores by VAS from 7.0 to 2.0 without any side effects. Good results were observed most frequently in those who had been treated with codeine phosphate together with acetaminophen. It is concluded that the oral use of prednisolone in addition to oral analgesics is effective for cancer pain from bone metastasis or nerve compression, and that the administration of cortico-steroids should be started at earliest possible stages in the clinical course of cancer pain for improvement of QOL of patients.