What to do and what not to do in the management of cancer pain: A physician survey and expert recommendations

Abstract

Background: Despite the prevalence of pain among patients with cancer and the availability of pertinent guidelines, the clinical management of oncological pain is decisively insuffi-cient. To address this issue, we evaluated current trends in clinical practice and subsequently generated a list of ten corrective actions—five things to do and five things not to do—for the diagnosis, management, and monitoring of cancer pain. Methods: The survey included 18 questions about clinical practice surrounding background pain and breakthrough cancer pain (BTcP). Survey questions were developed by a scientific board of 10 physician experts and communicated via email to an expanded panel of physicians in Italy. Responses were tabulated descriptively for analysis. Results: Of 51 invited physicians, 32 (63%) provided complete survey responses. The responses revealed several incongruencies with current guideline recommendations: physicians did not always diagnose or monitor pain using diagnostically validated or disease-specific instruments; frequently based clinical decision-making on time availability or convenience; and pharmacological therapy was often inappropriate (eg, prescribing NSAIDs or corticosteroids for BTcP). The list of corrective actions generated by the scientific board favored a guideline-oriented approach that systematically characterizes oncological pain and implements treatment based on pain character-istics (eg, fast-acting transmucosal opioids for BTcP) and evidence-based recommendations. Conclusion: Oncologists require better education and training about the diagnosis, treat-ment, and monitoring of oncological pain. Physicians should be aware of current guideline recommendations as well as available pharmacological tools for BTcP.