Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 16, 2026

A Quantitative Sensory Testing Paradigm to Obtain Measures of Pain Processing in Patients Undergoing Breast Cancer Surgery
Published on: January 18, 2018
What pain tells us about cancer
1NYU Bluestone Center for Clinical Research, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, School of Dentistry, New York University College of Dentistry, NY, USA Department of Neuroscience and Physiology, School of Medicine, New York University College of Dentistry, NY, USA.
Abstract:
Cancer pain sends a message. It is frightening to the patient. It heralds progression or recurrence to the oncologist. It is a biological readout of the cancer-nerve interaction for the scientist. Nerves have been considered bystanders within the cancer microenvironment. However, emerging information suggests that nerves are recruited and participate in the carcinogenic process. These newly formed fibers respond to mediators secreted by constituents of the cancer microenvironment. In this manner, these nerves serve as bellwethers and sensors embedded within the cancer. When we rigorously assess patients' cancer pain, we gain insight into the action of cancer. An enhanced understanding of cancer pain offers biological questions that if answered might not only provide relief from cancer pain but might also improve survival.
Related Concept Videos
Blood and Nerve Supply to the Bones
Nutrient Artery
The nutrient artery is the main blood vessel that enters the diaphysis via the nutrient foramen. While most long bones have only one nutrient foramen, large bones, such as the femur, may have two. This...
Pain
What is Cancer?
Although people have known about cancer for centuries, it was only in 1761 that Giovanni Morgagni of Padua performed a detailed autopsy of...
What is Cancer?
Cancer Survival Analysis
Nociception

