Patients with advanced
cancer often experience
chronic postoperative pain and poor quality of life. The objective of this study was to determine if epidural self-controlled
analgesia reduced the incidence of
chronic pain and improved the quality of life when compared with intravenous self-controlled
analgesia. A total of 50 patients diagnosed with advanced
cancer who received
analgesia treatment were randomly divided into two groups, epidural self-controlled
analgesia group (EA group, n = 26) and intravenous self-controlled
analgesia group (IA group, n = 24). Visual analog scale (VAS) and Karnofsky score were used to assess the
pain and the quality of life, respectively. A multifunction monitor was used to continuously record the physical signs of patients
after treatment. The physical signs, such as
heart failure, respiration, pulse, blood pressure, and oxygen saturation, in the two groups were better after
analgesia treatment. Meanwhile, the respiration and oxygen saturation in the EA group were significantly improved compared with that of the IA group (p < .05). The VAS in the EA group was significantly lower than that in the IA group (p < .05), and the Karnofsky score in the EA group was significantly higher than that in the IA group (p < .05). Moreover, patients treated with EA felt more satisfied and experienced fewer complications than those with IA (p < .05). The epidural self-controlled
analgesia may greatly improve the quality of life and relieve the
pain in patients with advanced
cancer.