Conservative ways to treat cancer pain

Dalia Skorupskienė

Clinic of Oncology, Kaunas University of Medicine Hospital, Lithuania

Key words: cancer pain, palliative cancer care, WHO analgesic “ladder”, opioids, adjuvants, opioid rotation.

Summary. Cancer pain is a major problem for cancer patients, as about 80 percent patients with advanced cancer declare pain as their main symptom. The causes of the pain are very different: due to the main tumor, its metastases, anticancer treatment, debility caused by the cancer or other diseases. The cancer pain relief algorithm is proposed in the article, including determination of the cause, type, intensity of pain, its pharmacological and non-pharmacological management, opioid rotation rules, treatment of adverse drug reactions, etc.

Correspondence to Dalia Skorupskienė, Clinic of Oncology, Kaunas University of Medicine Hospital, Eivenių 2, 50010 Kaunas, Lithuania. E-mail: daliask@hotmail.com; onko@takas.lt

Received 21 October 2003, accepted 2 June 2004