Abstract
BACKGROUND: During oxaliplatin chemotherapy administration via a peripheral vein, vascular pain requires changing of the intravenous infusion route on occasion. Vascular pain induced by anticancer drugs reduces the rate of patient continuation and completion of chemotherapy. Pain is presently appraised using subjective methods, such as the visual analog scale (VAS). However, because pain evaluation can vary depending on the physical state and mood of the patient at the time of assessment, it is desirable to evaluate pain objectively. PainVision PS-2100 (PV) is a medical device that was designed to objectively and quantitatively assess patient nociception and perception. METHODS: The present study examined the correlation of subjective and objective assessment of oxaliplatin-induced vascular pain using VAS and PV, respectively. RESULTS: Vascular pain was assessed using both PV and VAS a total of 173 times for 58 colorectal cancer patients. Partial correlation analysis was performed to evaluate the relationship between PV and VAS. The mean PV and VAS scores were 44.5 (range: 0-596) and 24.8 (range: 0-100), respectively. The partial correlation coefficient was 0.408 (p < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: A strong correlation was not observed between the results, and a weak correlation was observed between VAS and PV scores. Objective evaluation of oxaliplatin-induced vascular pain will be required to help patients overcome vascular pain.