Comfort is Control: Understanding Cancer Beyond Diagnosis

Writer: Maria Zajaczkowska

Editor: Nishat Islam

Introduction

Managing the pain of a patient with a cancer diagnosis is a challenge, with each patient having a different relative pain tolerance. Managing the symptoms of cancer is foremost, but people fail to understand the importance of managing the pain that arises. A treatment that has been effective in coping with cancer aches is anesthesia. The topic of anesthesia in cancer pain management has been growing to promote discovery in providing a longer fighting chance for people diagnosed early.

Cancer Pain Management

Cancer is the uncontrollable division of cells in the human body. As the cells multiply, they grow into tumors. This invasion results in unfathomable pain as the tumours press up against nerves, glands, and organs. Research has shown consistencies for anesthesiologists in making an impact by controlling a patient's acute pain with a multimodal analgesic regimen. When pain is controlled, it might impact survival outcomes.

What is multimodal analgesia, and how does it work?

Multimodal analgesia is the use of various classes of medications with different mechanisms of action to inhibit pain signal transmissions induced by trauma or injury during medical or surgical procedures. These medications act by stopping nerves from sending pain signals to the brain. Types of multimodal analgesia include local anesthetics and regional anesthesia or analgesia. They affect different parts of the pain pathways in the body. “Studies found that regional multimodal analgesia can not only reduce the number of opioids but also inhibit tumor recurrence by blocking sodium channels of cancer cells, decreasing inflammation, and improving immune function” (BMC). Pain relief is not solely focused on comfort but on survival. An adequate approach to reducing pain and improving strength leads to improved emotional well-being and treatment tolerance of a patient.

Well, how does the use of multimodal analgesia correlate with survival rates?

A strong recovery from cancer treatment helps with survival rates by strengthening the body's ability to heal and repair its protective systems. Interventions that incorporate pain reduction result in positive outcomes, such as a chance to keep fighting your battle. “While pain itself is not immediately life-threatening, chronic pain remains one of the most frequent and disabling symptoms of cancer. Chronic pain is always associated with poorer quality of life due to psychological distress (fatigue, depression) and reduced functioning. Some data indicate that the presence of poorly relieved pain may decrease survival rates in cancer ” (NIH). So while pain relief itself doesn’t directly extend lifespan, exposure to some anesthetics might have the potential to alter trajectories for cancer cell development in the human body. Nevertheless, adequate analgesia can improve strength, emotional well-being, and treatment tolerance, which potentially and indirectly supports longevity.

Why multimodal analgesia is a better alternative to opioids after surgery.

Opioids present several physiological effects, including their ability to damage the immune system with immunosuppression effects. This promotes a hostile environment in a patient's body, reducing the healthy cells' ability to autoregenerate and repair. Some retrospective studies have indicated an association between regional multimodal analgesia and a lower risk of cancer recurrence, highlighting improved outcomes.

Can multimodal analgesia help decrease cancer recurrence?

Yes, multimodal analgesia can potentially influence cancer recurrence. Especially within the subgroup of prostate cancer patients, regional anesthesia was revealed to be associated with lower cancer recurrence. "Animal models have reported that a type of regional anesthetics, EA (epidural anesthesia), could improve perioperative immune suppression and enhance immune surveillance among cancer patients, thereby decreasing cancer recurrence” (NIH)

Conclusions and Future Directions

The use of multimodal analgesia for pain reduction can significantly increase a patient's well-being. This could improve the quality of life and indirectly support longevity through its impact on physical strength, emotional well-being, and tolerance for medical treatments. Currently, there is tremendous interest, debate, and controversy about this potential benefit in the scientific community. There is a significant need for more prospective, randomized controlled trials to provide definitive evidence and clarify any causal relationship between multimodal analgesia techniques and cancer recurrence in the future.

References

1. Zhang, Y., & Guo, Y. (2025). Chronic pain is a risk factor for all-cause and cancer-specific mortality in cancer survivors: a population-based cohort study. BMC Public Health, 25(1), 325. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-025-21406-2

2. Mestdagh, F., Steyaert, A., & Lavand’homme, P. (2023). Cancer Pain Management: A narrative review of current concepts, strategies, and techniques. Current Oncology, 30(7), 6838–6858. https://doi.org/10.3390/curroncol30070500

3. Liu, X., & Wang, Q. (2022). Application of anesthetics in cancer patients: Reviewing current existing link with tumor recurrence. Frontiers in Oncology, 12, 759057. https://doi.org/10.3389/fonc.2022.759057

4. Chitnis, S. S., Tang, R., & Mariano, E. R. (2020). The role of regional analgesia in personalized postoperative pain management. Korean Journal of Anesthesiology, 73(5), 363–371. https://doi.org/10.4097/kja.20323