The measurement of pain in terminal carcinoma

1. A method is described for comparing narcotic analgesics and adjuvants in patients with terminal cancer. 2. A randomized controlled trial of orally administered diamorphine and morphine is reported to illustrate the method. 3. It is concluded that there is no over-all clinical difference between diamorphine and morphine when administered by mouth every four hours at individually optimized doses in association with cocaine and a phenothiazine. 4. The validity, reliability and sensitivity of the method are discussed.