[Pain assessment in terminally-ill cancer patients on admission in hospice and its modification after the first three days of care. A monocentric experience]. / Il dolore nel paziente oncologico terminale: valutazione del sintomo all'ingresso in hospice e delle sue modifi cazioni nei primi tre giorni di assistenza. Esperienza monocentrica.

AIMS: Pain is among the most frequent and distressing symptoms in terminally-ill cancer and, to date, many patients still experience uncontrolled pain. In this paper we evaluated prevalence and intensity of pain on admission in our palliative care center and during the first three days of care. PATIENTS AND METHODS: From September 2009 to October 2009 we consecutively recruited 96 terminally-ill cancer patients : on admission more than 50% had severe pain and only 4% referred to be pain-free. 54% of patients was on treatment with strong opioids. RESULTS: After three days from admission in our palliative care unit only 7% of patients experienced severe pain, 25% reported absence of pain and 80% of patients was on treatment with strong opioids. CONCLUSIONS: The beginning of palliative care led to a meaningful and rapid reduction of pain in the vast majority of terminally-ill cancer patients evaluated in this study.