The Duke Cancer Institute offers some of the most effective techniques available to manage cancer pain. Though pain is a common side effect of cancer and cancer treatment, there are many ways your pain management team can help control it.

The type of pain management therapy used depends on the patient’s diagnosis, disease stage, location of pain, and response to treatment.

At the Duke Cancer Institute, patients and families work together with the pain management team to manage pain effectively and improve the patient’s quality of life. Our specialized teams monitor each patient’s response to find the right therapy to improve their comfort level while minimizing side effects.

Inpatient Pain Management Services

The Duke Cancer Institute is a world leader in postoperative techniques to relieve pain and speed recovery. The inpatient pain management team is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to monitor patients throughout their recovery and ensure that their needs are met.

Working with the patient’s primary physician, we create an individual plan for each patient to help reduce pain and restore normal physical ability.

We take a very aggressive multimodal approach to pain relief following surgery, using the latest and most effective forms of oral and intravenous analgesics. Many patients benefit from multimodal analgesics, such as neuroaxial blocks -- epidurals supplemented by a host of intravenous and oral analgesics.

The pain management team is comprised of dedicated anesthesiologists, pain nurses, and anesthesia residents. We manage all neuroaxial catheters and see patients whose primary physicians ask for a consult.

Outpatient Pain Management Services

Our program combines the efforts of pain management specialists including neurologists, neurosurgeons, anesthesiologists, psychiatrists, physical therapists, and psychologists to address the multiple facets of pain.

The following services are available to help Duke Cancer Institute patients manage their pain during and after treatment:

• Medication management
• Nerve blocks
• Infusions service
• Biofeedback
• Psychotherapy
• Physical therapy
• Acupuncture
• Neurolysis
• Neuromodulation using implantable devices such as intrathecal pump and spine cord stimulation

Appointments

To request pain management services, speak with your physician about receiving a consult.