Controlling Pain 

Eliot S. Krames, MD, FACPM, Ernest H. Rosenbaum, MD, and Malin Dollinger, MD
 
"Pain is an even more terrible lord of mankind than even death itself." — Albert Schweitzer 

Fear of pain is a large part of any patient's fear of
cancer. Sixty to 90 percent of people with advanced
cancer develop pain severe enough that they need
some type of pain-relieving therapy, so this is a
realistic concern. But not all cancers produce
pain equally, and some cancers, even when
advanced, may not cause pain at all. Cancers
involving bone, either directly or through
spread, or the abdomen are usually associated
with pain when advanced. Cancers of the blood
system such as leukemias or lymphomas may not be.