Pharmacologic Treatment of Cancer Pain

Pain from cancer is a major health care problem.1–3 Thirty percent of patients with cancer have pain at the time of diagnosis, and 65 to 85 percent have pain when their disease is advanced.2,4–6 The impact of cancer pain is magnified by the interaction of pain and its treatments with other common cancer symptoms: fatigue, weakness, dyspnea, nausea, constipation, and impaired cognition.4,6 Cancer pain can be effectively treated in 85 to 95 percent of patients with an integrated program of systemic, pharmacologic, and anticancer therapy.7,8 Many of the remaining patients can be helped by the . . .