Factors influencing venous pain in patients with cancer receiving gemcitabine

Abstract

© 2018, Medical Association of Thailand. All rights reserved. Background: Gemcitabine is a chemotherapy drug used to treat several cancers. Nevertheless, pain is an adverse effect during drug administration. Objective: To study the contributing factors relating to venous discomfort during Gemcitabine administration. Materials and Methods: This is a retrospective study to investigate the factors including gender, age, drug, formula, dosage, time, type and volume of solution, duration, and site of administration have been retrospectively evaluated in cancer patients receiving Gemcitabine. As the occurrence of venous pain is approximately 37% of the time and each variable requires 10 times of drug administration to prove for pain distress, the calculated sample size was 372 from 72 patients. The pain discomfort was recorded by using numeric rating scale. Ap of less than 0.05 was considered statistical significance. Results: Patients receiving Gemcitabine intravenously suffered with pain at 5.1% of the time relating to the site of venipuncture at Basilic vein (p<0.005), at the fourth to the ninth cycle ofdrug administration (p<0.003), female patients (p<0.024), and patients younger than 65 years (p<0.032) in a successive order. Nevertheless, there were no correlations to other factors. Discussion: The Basilic vein was a less-aching site, since it is a large superficial vein. Patients at the fourth to the ninth cycle ofdrug administration experienced this distress dramatically, possibly because of the drug(s) accumulating and affecting the venous framework. Female, younger than 65 years underwent this concern more than the younger. This might due to the elder member having accumulated experience of pain through their life. Conclusion: Venous pain among subjects receiving Gemcitabine is an adverse effect during administration. However, nurses can reduce venous pain by selecting Basilic vein to administer Gemcitabine.