Can chemotherapy relieve pain?
My mother is 78 years old and was just diagnosed with osteosarcoma cancer in her jawbone. She was diagnosed with Alzheimer's last year too. Since eating is one of the things she enjoys the most, we decided not to do surgery and treat her with radiation and chemotherapy. What is the best treatment without surgery? Will chemotherapy help to reduce the pain?
Expert Answer
For many situations where cancer causes pain, if chemotherapy or radiation can help to shrink the cancer, the pain will be reduced. It is important to ask her oncologist the likelihood of shrinking the tumor with a particular treatment and compare it with the likelihood of severe side effects. But chemotherapy can reduce pain if it shrinks the cancer. If your mother's Alzheimer's progresses it may become more difficult to evaluate her pain.