Analgesics in cancer pain: current practice and beliefs

Prescribing practices for patients with cancer pain among populations of doctors in the United Kingdom have been assessed by means of a postal questionnaire. The results indicate that amongst the sample of doctors completing the questionnaire the basic principles of pain control in cancer appear to be understood. Regular oral morphine or diamorphine are most often chosen with the dose being determined mainly by the severity of pain with no arbitrary upper limit. Fears of addiction and respiratory depression, and a relatively long prognosis no longer appear to be major deterrents to the use of strong opioid analgesics. These data indicate considerable shifts in opinion in the doctors responding to the questionnaire and these results and their implications for current and future teaching about the management of cancer pain are discussed.