• Question: Which is the most painful cancer to have

    Asked by mariamca on 21 Jun 2023.
    • Photo: Zahra Rattray

      Zahra Rattray answered on 21 Jun 2023:

      This is a tough question to answer, because everyone has such a different pain threshold and we have no real unbiased way of measuring how severe pain is, without asking someone. Pain is a real issue in most cancers, and patients go on to take really strong painkillers to help with this.

    • Photo: Iain Tullis

      Iain Tullis answered on 26 Jun 2023: last edited 26 Jun 2023 3:43 pm

      Bone cancer is particularly painful and is often not the primary cancer, but cells that have spread from the original tumour to the bone.

      Tumours in bone can cause the generation of new of pain-transmitting nerve fibers near the tumour and the mechanical effect of the tumour growing can cause small breaks in the bone.

      The combined effect makes cancer in bones very painful.

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