Why carry out this study?

A few studies reported that emotion disorder, like depression, is pretty common in patients with cancer pain, and this patient had depressive symptoms with unrelieved severe pain.

This case showed that coadministration of DEX and morphine intrathecally is an effective and safe way to treat refractory cancer pain in the patient.

Intrathecal administration of DEX has alleviated depressive behaviors of this patient and it therefore might have antidepressive properties.

What was learned from this study?

This case provides evidence that the multimodal pain management with DEX participation could be an effective and safe treatment strategy for refractory cancer pain and pain-related depression.

Refractory cancer pain and accompanying depression deserve more attention and intervention to deliver better management both physically and psychologically.