Conventional cancer treatment alone or with regional hyperthermia for pain relief in lung cancer: A case–control study

• Adding hyperthermia treatment alter cancer-related pain.
• We matched the hyperthermia group and the conventional treatment group at a propensity score matching ratio of 1:5.
• We examined changes in effective analgesic scores over six months.
• Cancer-related pain was increased by hyperthermia, particularly during the early treatment period.

SummaryObjectiveTo investigate the effect of combining conventional treatment with regional hyperthermia on cancer pain in lung cancer patients.DesignCase–control study.SettingOne Korean university hospital and three complementary cancer clinics.Main outcomes and measuresMain outcome was effective analgesic score (EAS, PI[1 + (M/10)], 1: anti-inflammatory drug consumption at a regular dosage, M: weekly dose (mg) of oral morphine equivalent and PI: pain intensity) at four time points (baseline (days −30 to 0), time 1 (days 1–60), time 2 (days 61–120), and time 3 (days 121–180)). Propensity score matching between the hyperthermia and control groups was performed using a 1:5 ratio. A linear mixed effects model was employed to measure EAS changes over time in the two groups.ResultsAt baseline, there were 83 subjects in the control group and 32 subjects in the hyperthermia group. At time 3, there were 49 subjects in the control group and 16 subjects in the hyperthermia group. Analyses showed rate of change of EAS, treatment × time was significant (p = 0.038). This significant difference was mainly observed for time 1 (mean difference: 101.76 points, 95% confidence interval: 10.20–193.32 points, p = 0.030).ConclusionsOur results indicate an increase in cancer pain in lung cancer patients administered regional hyperthermia, particularly during the early stage of hyperthermia treatment.