Myofascial pain syndrome in patients with cancer: a narrative review

Purpose Myofascial pain syndrome (MPS) is a chronic musculoskeletal pain syndrome. The purpose of this review is to describe the epidemiological and treatment evidence and to address the future research agenda in patients with cancer. Methods A narrative review of previous reports investigating the prevalence and treatment of MPS in the oncology field is presented. The target population is patients with cancer and cancer survivors. Results There have been three prospective and two retrospective studies investigating the prevalence of MPS. MPS is as high as 38%–45% in patients with advanced or incurable cancer and 11.9%–44.8% in cancer survivors. A total of nine reports investigated the efficacy of the following interventions: trigger point injection (TPI), myofascial techniques and ischaemic compression. TPI has been reported to be effective in four observational studies. One randomised study reported the efficacy of myofascial techniques, but two randomised studies reported no added beneficial effects of it in breast cancer survivors. Two randomised studies investigated the efficacy of ischaemic compression, but the obtained results were contradictory. Conclusions MPS is highly prevalent. We should know that non-cancer pain is also common in both patients with cancer and survivors. In treating such pain, careful physical examination is essential. Then, non-pharmacological treatment should be considered as well as pharmacotherapy. As evidence regarding MPS in the oncology field is scarce, further research is warranted.