Breakthrough pain in patients with multiple myeloma: a secondary analysis of IOPS MS study

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to characterize breakthrough pain (BTcP) in patients with multiple myeloma (MM).PATIENTS AND METHODS: This was a sec-ondary analysis of a large multicenter study of patients with BTcP. Background pain intensity and opioid doses were recorded. The BTcP char-acteristics, including the number of BTcP ep-isodes, intensity, onset, duration, predictabil-ity, and interference with daily activities were recorded. Opioids prescribed for BTcP, time to achieve a meaningful pain relief after taking a medication, adverse effects, and patients' satis- faction were assessed.RESULTS: Fifty-four patients with MM were ex-amined. In comparison with other tumors, in pa-tients with MM BTcP was more predictable (p=0.04), with the predominant trigger being the physical ac-tivity (p < 0.001). Other BTcP characteristics, pattern of opioids used for background pain and BTcP, sat-isfaction and adverse effects did not differ.CONCLUSIONS: Patients with MM have their own peculiarities. Given the peculiar involve-ment of the skeleton, BTcP was highly predict-able and triggered by movement.