The correlation of c-reactive protein, lactate dehydrogenase, albumin parameters to pain score and fentanyl dose in oncology patients with palliative care

ABSTRACT Objective: The aim of this study is to determine the correlation of c-reactive protein (CRP), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), albumin parameters to pain score and fentanyl dose in oncology patients with palliative treatment. Method: The research is a descriptive retrospective study to evaluate the correlation of CRP, LDH, albumin parameters to pain score and fentanyl dose in oncology patients. Four hundred patients hospitalized in Akdeniz University Medical Faculty Hospital medical oncology clinic due to pain palliation were included in the study between January 2014 and August 2020. We collected data transferred online from MIA-MED, the computing system used in the hospital. Patient demographics, diagnosis and stage, laboratory results, patient's pain management, and visual analog scale (VAS) scored by the patient were analyzed through the MIA-MED system. Results: We included data from 400 patients. In this cases, 149 patients were female (37.3%) and 251 patients were male (62.7%). The mean age of the cases was 59.11±12.06 years. The diagnoses of the cases were lung (33%), pancreatic (14.3%), breast (8.8%) and colon (8.5%) cancers. Ninety four percent of the patients had advanced metastatic disease. VAS scores were determined with an inverse relationship between age. Fentanyl doses were correlated with VAS scores. VAS scores were not significantly correlated with CRP, LDH ve albumin. In the subgroup analysis of 161 patients who did not use antibiotics, CRP levels were corelated with VAS scores (p=0.011). Conclusion: In this study, CRP was found to be correlated with pain score in cancer patients without infection. Key words: cancer pain, visual analog scale, fentanyl, c-reactive protein.