Disclosures: Melissa P. Osborn, MD: Nothing to disclose

Objective: To quantify prevalence, location and relation to tumor characteristics of pain reported by patients with cervical cancer at initial contact with radiation oncology team

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Setting: Radiation oncology department

Participants: 77 patients with cervical cancer treated with definitive curative intent.

Interventions: Not applicable

Main Outcome Measures: Pain reported (yes/no), numerical pain score (0-10, when available), location of pain, percentages based on specified characteristics.

Results: The average age of the study population was 48 years (range 26-77 years). Stage of cervical cancer at diagnosis was IB1 in 13 patients (16.9%), IB2 in 16 patients (20.8%), II in 28 patients (36.4%), III in 15 patients (19.5%), and IV in 5 patients (6.5%). Histology was squamous cell carcinoma in 57 patients (74%), adenocarcinoma in 16 patients (20.8%), adenosquamous in 3 patients (3.9%), and neuroendocrine in 1 patient (1.3%). Out of 77 patients with cervical cancer, 31 patients (40.3%) reported pain at initial contact with radiation oncology. Average pain score was 4.81 out of 10 amongst the patients reporting pain as a numerical score. The most common locations to report pain included the pelvis (41.9%) and abdomen (41.9%), followed by back (9.7%) and other (29%). There was no association between pain score and more advanced stage or evidence of increased risk of recurrence.

Conclusions: This is the first study to our knowledge reporting prevalence of pain among patients with cervical cancer prior to initiation of definitive curative treatment. Most prior studies have focused on patients in the palliative care setting. These data support that approximately 40% of patients report pain at initial presentation for cervical cancer and that the prevalence of pain is not associated with cancer stage at presentation. Given the high prevalence, patients would likely benefit from more systemic involvement of pain specialists at initial encounter to improve quality of life metrics and adherence to treatment regimens.

Level of Evidence: Level IV

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PM&R Meeting Abstracts - https://pmrjabstracts.org/abstract/prevalence-and-relation-to-tumor-characteristics-of-reported-pain-at-initial-contact-with-radiation-oncology-for-definitive-curative-management-of-cervical-cancer-patients/