Introduction: Opioid analgesics are commonly used to manage moderate to severe cancer related pain. However long-term use of opioids has been known to lead to several unintended side effects, including opioid induced hyperalgesia (OIH) which is defined as the paradoxical increase in pain sensitization to pain stimulus following opioid exposure. Currently there are limited reports on the association between patients with cancer and OIH, and this phenomenon is rarely described in patients with leukemia or lymphoma. Here we report a patient with acute promyelocytic leukemia who developed opioid induced hyperalgesia following rapid escalation of opioids.
Case report: A 36-year-old female being treated for acute promyelocytic leukemia presented with rapidly worsening acute on chronic hip pain requiring increasing opioid requriements. Given the rapid escalation of opioid dose with minimal response and physical exam findings consistent with allodynia/hyperalgesia a diagnosis of opioid induced hyperalgesia was made.
Management and outcome: Following recognition of opioid induced hyperalgesia, the patient was managed with opioid rotation and ketamine, which resulted in prompt alleviation of pain.
Discussion: Opioid induced hyperalgesia is likely an underrecognized phenomenon in patients with cancer-related pain. A high index of clinical suspicion are necessary for diagnosis and proper management of this disease entity.
Keywords: acute promyelocytic leukemia; cancer related pain; ketamine; opioid induced hyperalgesia.