The main manifestations of pain from bone metastasis of rectal cancer

In recent years, the incidence of rectal cancer has been increasing, which has also led to a surge in the number of people with bone metastasis of rectal cancer. The pain of bone metastasis causes great distress to patients, and the characteristics of the pain are as follows.

1. Bone metastasis pain can occur in various parts of the body, but 80% occurs in the spine; it is mostly intermittent or continuous pain, which can gradually worsen. The pain is significantly aggravated during activities or weight-bearing; it is heavier at night than during the day, so patients are prone to fear before going to bed, have many worries, and have difficulty falling asleep. In severe cases, joint dysfunction may even occur.

2. Bone metastasis pain includes local bone pain, radiation to surrounding tissues, referred pain, nerve compression, muscle spasm and related myofascial pain.

3. Bone pain is the main reason why bone metastasis cancer attracts people's attention. Most bone metastasis cancers do not cause pain for a certain period of time. Pain gradually appears as the disease progresses, but it is also easy to be confused with general waist and leg pain, causing neglect. Therefore, family members and patients should pay more attention and do not delay treatment.

4. 1% to 2% of patients with metastatic cancer develop compression of the spinal cord or cauda equina, which can even cause paralysis in severe cases. Radicular pain from compression of the cervical or lumbar spinal cord often occurs unilaterally, while radicular pain from thoracic spinal cord lesions is generally bilateral, especially when accompanied by epidural spread.

Sometimes spinal cord compression causes more pain when lying flat, so most patients experience more pain at night; however, when there is peripheral nerve compression, rest often reduces the intensity of the pain, and the patient is not bothered by the pain at night.