Background: Bone is the most common site of metastasis in cancer. Bone metastasis is a devastating condition that can have a negative impact on the lives of patients with advanced cancer in many ways. Patients may experience limitations in the activities of daily living (ADL), decreases in quality of life (QOL) and threat of survival due to bone metastases. Although the overall incidence of bone metastasis (BM) is unknown, BMs are a frequent complication in patients with advanced cancer. Pain is among the most prevalent symptoms and poses a challenge for the cancer health-care system. Aim: To study the pain in patients with metastatic bone disease receiving Bisphosphonates and External Beam Radiation Therapy. Methodology: A Prospective observational study was carried out in Government General Hospital, Guntur for duration of 6months i.e., October 2017 to March 2018 after obtaining approval from Institutional Ethics Committee. The Patients were screened based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. Patients who satisfy inclusion criteria were included in the study after obtaining informed consent. The data was collected in the designed data collection form. Pain assessment was carried out by using part 1,3,4 of Mc gill pain questionnaire. Part 1 gives the information regarding “Where is your pain”, part 3 gives information about the “factors affecting the pain” and part 4 “How strong the pain is”. Visual analogue scale was used to assess pain through facial expressions (No pain, minor, moderate & severe pain). The obtained results were tabulated and interpreted using suitable statistical software (SPSS version 22.00, Paired t-test). Results: 36 patients who met the inclusion criteria were included in the study. On reviewing the demographic data it was found that bone metastasis was found to be more predominant in females within the age group of 51-70 years. Our study also revealed that there was no significant family history noted in patients who developed metastasis. In our current study it was found that patients suffering with breast cancer, lung cancer and prostate cancer are more likely to develop bone metastasis. We also tried to assess the pain status through Mc gill pain questionnaire and Visual analogue scale in patients who were receiving Bisphosphonates and EBRT (upto 10#, 30Gy). We noted that pain status gradually decreased (P<0.0001****) with increase in cycles of EBRT and Bisphosphonates therapy. Conclusion: Based on the results obtained our study strongly concludes that use of Bisphosphonates and EBRT is effective in reducing pain in patients with bone metastases.
