Cancer patients often experience pain that has a significantly negative effect on their daily living.
This pain may be caused by the disease process itself, but may also be related to the treatment such as chemotherapy-induced neuropathic pain, chronic pain following surgery and post-amputation pain.
In this training article we will discuss the different aspects of cancer-related pain, based on various questions posed by general practitioners and internists.
Items that are discussed include measurement of pain, opioid therapy, opioid side effects, adjuvant medication, barriers that preclude proper treatment of pain, opioid tolerance and addiction, and interventional therapy.
Pain treatment in cancer patients requires a multidisciplinary team effort, with a central role for the patient.
Conflict of interest and financial support: potential conflicts of interest have been reported for this article. ICMJE forms provided by the authors are available online along with the full text of this article.