Pain Experiences Across the Illness Trajectory in Pediatric Cancers

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to welcome you to contribute to this Special Issue on “Pain Experiences Across the Illness Trajectory in Pediatric Cancers” in the journal Children. Pain is a common symptom during active treatment and into survivorship as well as during end-of-life care. Understanding regarding pain continues to evolve. Pain can be acute, chronic, nociceptive, neuropathic, nociplastic, etc. The roles of many different receptors, ion channels, and neurotransmitters have been elucidated, and we have numerous pharmacologic modalities that take advantage of this knowledge.

The high prevalence of this symptom can result directly from the child’s cancer, be related to the multimodal therapies these children receive, or both. The experience of pain is distressing for the child and their family when it is not well controlled. Additionally, pain should be thought of as multifactorial as demonstrated by Cicely Saunders’ Total Pain concept and by the biopsychosocial model of pain. Children with cancer must endure many painful procedures throughout the course of their illness. Providing accurate, developmentally appropriate information may assist children in understanding an impending painful medical experience and how to cope with it, reducing distress and subsequent negative memories of that experience. It can help to prepare children to cope with pain and associated distress following cancer therapies, allowing for improved recovery.

The goal of this Special Issue in the journal Children is to highlight recent advances in treatment and information provision in the context of children’s pain across a range of settings, using various modalities. We welcome reviews and original research considering novel approaches, as well as identifying gaps in knowledge. We also encourage submissions that explore how biological, social, and cultural factors, past pain experiences, and individual differences may impact treatment and anticipatory guidance methods and efficacy, in the context of normative or delayed cognitive development. 

We would envision the following topics for in-depth review and empirical studies:

• Pain epidemiology and management from cancer treatment to end-of-life or survivorship care;
• Social determinants and racial/ethnic disparities in pain management and outcomes;
• Biological mechanisms (genetics, epigenetics, neurobiology) of pain development and progression; 
• Associations or impacts of pain on medical and psychosocial outcomes;
• Novel measurement methods, platforms, and clinical decision systems for pain assessment and management;  
• Clinical algorithms targeted to specific pain conditions and mechanisms
• Novel interventions (pharmacological, non-pharmacological, and interventional) and integrated approaches for pain management.

Dr. I-Chan Huang
Dr. Doralina Anghelescu
Dr. Justin Baker
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Children is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• pain epidemiology
• pain management
• chronic pain
• pediatric cancer
• children and adolescents
• social determinants
• biological mechanisms
• pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions
• interventional pain management