Advances in cancer pain management

Control of malignant pain and related symptoms is paramount to clinical success in caring for cancer patients. To achieve the best quality of life for patients and families, oncologists and palliative care clinicians must work together to understand problems related to psychologic, social, and spiritual pain. Pain is the primary problem targeted for control using the World Health Organization's (WHO) analgesic ladder. This article focuses on increased knowledge of analgesic action that may enable expansion of the WHO analgesic ladder to fulfill the broader objectives of palliative medicine. We discuss clinical experience with several classes of drugs that are currently used to treat cancer pain: 1) nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), with emphasis on cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitors; 2) opioid analgesics, with specific emphasis on methadone and its newly recognized value in cancer pain; 3) ketamine, an antagonist at N-methyl d-aspartate (NMDA) receptors; and 4) bisphosphonates, used for pain resulting from bone metastases. New concepts that compare molecular actions of morphine at excitatory opioid receptors, and methadone at non-opioid receptor systems, are presented to underscore the importance of balancing central nervous system excitatory (anti-analgesic) versus inhibitory (analgesic) influences.