Purpose of review: To describe several effective imaging-guided, minimally invasive treatments to relieve cancer-associated pain in oncologic patients. Clinical applications, technical considerations, and current controversies are addressed.
Recent findings: The great variability in tumor subtype, location, and growth rates dictate the necessity for a tailored treatment approach. While opioids and radiotherapy may provide adequate relief for some patients, alternative minimally invasive procedures may augment theses more traditional treatments or even provide superior palliative relief. Recent image-guided percutaneous techniques applied to reduce cancer-associated pain and minimize opioid dependence include neurolysis, ablation, high intensity focused ultrasound, and bone consolidation. Each technique treats cancer pain in a unique method. Minimally invasive interventional radiology techniques can provide effective and lasting pain palliation for cancer patients through both indirect and direct effects. Selection among treatments techniques should be based upon an individually tailored approach, to include consideration of all treatment modalities.
Keywords: Ablation; Bone consolidation; Neurolysis; Oncology; Pain.