Clinical Approaches to Adult Cancer Pain

The disease course of cancer presents several physical manifestations, such as fatigue, nausea, vomiting or anorexia. However, the most feared symptom, with the greatest impact on quality of life is, undoubtedly, pain. Thus, pain relief is of paramount importance in any stage of the disease [van den Beuken-van Everdingen MH, de Rijke JM, Kessels AG, Schouten HC, van Kleef M, Patijn J. Ann Oncol Off J Eur Soc Med Oncol/ESMO 18:1437–1449, 2007].