[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-369572-105":59,"doc-detail-369572-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":123,"head_meta":125,"extra_data":127,"updated_unix":129},105,"en","cancer-pain-radiotherapy-as-a-double-edged-sword","Cancer Pain - Radiotherapy as a Double-Edged Sword","","Cancer pain is a frequent problem for patients, particularly in advanced disease, and it substantially degrades quality of life, limits treatment tolerance, and worsens treatment outcomes. Pain can originate from primary tumors, metastases, or inflammatory tissue reactions after radiotherapy (RT). RT is an essential analgesic modality, providing meaningful relief to many patients, especially with bone and soft-tissue metastases. However, radiotherapy can also trigger pain, including radiation-induced neuropathic pain. Careful management of RT toxicities is therefore required to improve QoL and survival.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":35,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/healthcare/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/cancer-pain-radiotherapy-as-a-double-edged-sword/369572/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/cancer-pain-radiotherapy-as-a-double-edged-sword/369572.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Fahsai","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-01","2026-09-23",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":52},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What factors can cause cancer pain in patients receiving radiotherapy?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"Cancer pain may be driven by primary tumors, metastases, or inflammatory reactions in tissues surrounding the tumor after radiotherapy.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"How does radiotherapy help relieve cancer pain?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"Radiotherapy can reduce tumor burden and associated symptoms, providing relief for a substantial proportion of patients, particularly in bone and soft-tissue metastases.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"Why does radiotherapy sometimes worsen pain, and what is the implication?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"Radiotherapy can induce pain, including radiation-induced neuropathic pain, so managing RT-related toxicities is necessary to protect quality of life and outcomes.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},369572,1790460898,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":34,"category_name":35,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":52,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145},549768702563,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/8000c4aa63b76e948b?x-image-process=image/resize,m_fixed,w_180,h_180&k=1786536092046926083","Review  \nCancer Pain: Radiotherapy as a Double-Edged Sword  \nMonika Konopka-Filippow 1, Barbara Politynska 2,3, Anna M. Wojtukiewicz 2 and Marek Z. Wojtukiewicz 1, *  \nAcademic Editor: Yu-Chan Chang  \nReceived: 30 April 2025  \nRevised: 23 May 2025  \nAccepted: 27 May 2025  \nPublished: 29 May 2025  \nCitation: Konopka-Filippow, M.; Politynska, B.; Wojtukiewicz, A.M.; Wojtukiewicz, M.Z. Cancer Pain: Radiotherapy as a Double-Edged Sword. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2025, 26, 5223 . [https://doi.org/10.3390/](https://doi.org/10.3390/)[ ](https://doi.org/10.3390/)ijms26115223  \nCopyright: © 2025 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license ([https://creativecommons.org/](https://creativecommons.org/)[ ](https://creativecommons.org/)[licenses/by/4.0/](licenses/by/4.0/)) .  \n1 Department of Oncology, Medical University of Bialystok, 15-089 Bialystok, Poland; [monikafilippow@gmail.com](monikafilippow@gmail.com)  \n2 Department of Psychology and Philosophy, Medical University of Bialystok,15-420 Bialystok, Poland; [bpolitynska@wp.pl](bpolitynska@wp.pl) (B.P.); [aniawojtukiewicz@gmail.com](aniawojtukiewicz@gmail.com) (A.M.W.)  \n3 Robinson College, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 9AN, UK  \n* [Correspondence: mzwojtukiewicz@gmail.com](Correspondence: mzwojtukiewicz@gmail.com)  \nAbstract: Cancer pain is a common issue for patients, especially in the advanced stages of cancer, and significantly affects the quality of life (QoL), treatment tolerance, and overall treatment outcomes. Pain may be caused by primary tumors, metastases, or asa consequence of the inflammatory reaction of tissues surrounding the tumor following radiotherapy (RT). Effective pain management is crucial, especially with RT being a key method for alleviating cancer pain, particularly in cases of bone and soft tissue metastases. RT provides relief for 60–80% of patients by reducing tumor size and mitigating associated pain. Radiotherapy itself can also induce pain, especially radiation-induced neuropathic pain, which may require further treatment. Despite these potential side effects, RT remains an essential tool in managing cancer pain, though careful management of its toxicities is necessary to improve patient QoL and survival.  \nKeywords: pain; neuropathic pain; radiotherapy; bone metastases  \n1. Introduction  \nMost cancer patients experience pain as part of their illness, especially those with advanced cancer, where the goal of treatment is not complete recovery, but providing relief from symptoms, including pain. Cancer pain may be the result of a developing primary tumor or metastases in the lymph nodes, but predominantly it occurs in patients experiencing distant metastases, particularly in the skeletal system [1] . It has long been established that pain has a negative impact on quality of life (QoL), decreasing the tolerance of treatment and can also affect treatment compliance [2] . The latter substantially influences the treatment results and patient outcomes [3] . Moreover, cancer pain may appear during or after oncological therapy, including radiotherapy (RT) . Therefore, appropriate pain management plays an important role in the overall outcome of anticancer therapy with regard to patient treatment tolerance and their QoL [4] .  \n2. Radiotherapy as a Mainstream Procedure for the Treatment of Cancer Pain  \nThe main RT techniques used for the management of cancer pain are as follows:  \n1. Teleradiotherapy (or external beam radiation therapy, EBRT) is the most commonly used irradiation technique in oncological treatment. In EBRT, the radiation source is placed at a certain distance from the tumor, and the patient, lying in a predetermined position, is exposed to a beam of ionizing radiation (either photon or electron) generated by a therapeutic device—a medical linear accelerator. The irradiation area  \nincludes not only the tumor","cbCaijPrSFMCZ8lF","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaijPrSFMCZ8lF","pdf",764608,21,"English","# Abstract\n# Introduction\n# Radiotherapy as a Mainstream Procedure for the Treatment of Cancer Pain","[{\"question\":\"What factors can cause cancer pain in patients receiving radiotherapy?\",\"answer\":\"Cancer pain may be driven by primary tumors, metastases, or inflammatory reactions in tissues surrounding the tumor after radiotherapy.\"},{\"question\":\"How does radiotherapy help relieve cancer pain?\",\"answer\":\"Radiotherapy can reduce tumor burden and associated symptoms, providing relief for a substantial proportion of patients, particularly in bone and soft-tissue metastases.\"},{\"question\":\"Why does radiotherapy sometimes worsen pain, and what is the implication?\",\"answer\":\"Radiotherapy can induce pain, including radiation-induced neuropathic pain, so managing RT-related toxicities is necessary to protect quality of life and outcomes.\"}]","Cancer Pain - Radiotherapy as a Double-Edged Sword | PDF",1790183485,53]