Cancer pain: an update of pharmacological approaches in pain therapy

This review discusses clinically oriented data on advances in pharmacological research of cancer pain therapy carried out during the last year. The aim is to ascertain whether well known guidelines for cancer pain prove to be adequate or require modification.

There are alternatives to morphine, which is the standard drug, including oxycodone or methadone, with the problem of equivalence doses in the case of opioid rotation. Depending on the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms, adjuvant drugs are recommended, such as antidepressants and anticonvulsants for neuropathic pain, or bisphosphonates for metastasis bone pain. Current and future research will offer receptor-specific acting new drugs or old drugs under new indications.

The recommendations of the World Health Organization ladder remain the mainstay of cancer pain management. These recommendations, however, are based more on expert opinions than on evidence-based data.