Early palliative care based on guideline -involvement of our palliative care team

Abstract

Cancer pain is one of the major physical symptoms of cancer patients and the symptom that appears earliest among them, being reportedly observed in 30% to 40% of patients at the diagnosis of cancer and in 65% to 85% of patients with advanced cancer. On the other hand, pain is a common problem in cancer survivors. Cancer patients can experience three kinds of pain: cancer-related pain (1); pain due to treatments (such as chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy: CIPN) (2); and chronic non-cancer pain (such as post-herpetic neuralgia: PHN). Therefore, based on guidelines, it is necessary to prescribe opioid for cancer patients appropriately. The Japanese Society of Palliative Medicine developed a novel clinical guideline for the management of cancer pain in 2014. At this symposium, I will make a speech about the role of palliative care team and pharmacists based on guidelines for cancer pain management. Additionally, I will introduce our research for cancer pain and CIPN.