Pain management in cancer patients: A review

Pain management in cancer patients isa dire need which is often overlooked in the overall healthcare provided by oncologists. this review focuses on revealing the crucial trends and issues on effective pain management. the meta-analyses of previous research studies demonstrate that pain management in cancer patients is often suboptimal and there are many barriers which lead to poor pain management. according to the who guidelines there should be scheduled administration of drugs orally on the occurrence of pain,starting with non-opioid drugs such as acetaminophen,nsaids or cox-2 inhibitors following mild opioids and later strong opioids. pain management in cancer patients is often inadequate due to the reasons as poor diagnosis of pain and reluctance of patient to take opioids or report pain. on physician's part reasons are reluctance to prescribe opioids and perceived excessive regulation. most oncologists must be proficient of managing pain in cancer patients as the guidelines are available. effective alliance with pain experts and experts on palliative care can also be helpful. there is a need for collaboration in the form of clinical teams including nurses,doctors and pharmacists rather than individual efforts to be involved in managing cancer pain. © pakistan academy of sciences.