Persistent pain is a serious problem that often contributes to a poor quality of life in pancreatic cancer patients. Medical management by opioid analgesics is often accompanied by side effects and incomplete pain relief. A celiac plexus block is a simple treatment which relieves pain, but the procedure demands a certain degree of proficiency and the duration of the effects obtained can be rath...

introduction : severepain is a major problem in patients with unresectable pancreatic cancer. the goal of this study is to evaluate the effects of thoracoscopic splanchnicectomy (ts) on pain control in these patients suffering from unresectable pancreatic cancer. methods:between years 2000 to 2011, 20 patients suffering from unresectable pancreatic cancer underwent ts due to severe pain. they w...

A serious problem for patients with unresectable pancreatic cancer and chronic pancreatitis is pain. For many of these patients medical therapy is unable to assure a good control of it. Celiac plexus nerve block and surgical denervation of the pancreas have proven their superiority over medical therapy. Thoracoscopic splanchnicectomy is a palliative procedure that consists in identification and...

Thoracoscopic splanchnicectomy has been used for the management of upper abdominal pain syndromes as an alternative to celiac plexus block for conditions such as chronic pancreatitis or supramesocolic malignant neoplasms, including unresectable pancreatic cancer. This procedure is similar to the percutaneous block with a higher degree of precision and avoids the side effects associated with the...

DESIGN Evaluation of thoracoscopic splanchnicectomy and laparoscopic gastrojejunostomy as endoscopic palliative treatment of advanced pancreatic cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS Between November 1993 and September 1998 we performed 16 thoracoscopic splanchnicectomies and 6 laparoscopic gastrojejunostomies in patients with an advanced pancreatic cancer admitted to the Department of Surgery of Univ...

BACKGROUND Pancreatic cancer is a malignant neoplasm with a high mortality rate, often associated with a delayed diagnosis, the early occurrence of metastasis and an overall, poor response to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Pain management in pancreatic cancer consists mainly of pharmacological treatment according to the WHO analgesic ladder. Surgical treatment for pain relief, such as splanchni...