Abstract
More than half of patients affected by cancer experience pain of moderate-to-severe intensity, often in multiple sites, and of different etiologies and underlying mechanisms. The heterogeneity of pain mechanisms is expressed with the fluctuating nature of cancer pain intensity and clinical characteristics. Traditional ways of classifying pain in the cancer population include distinguishing pain etiology, clinical characteristics related to pain and the patient, pathophysiology, and the use of already validated classification systems. Concepts like breakthrough, nociceptive, neuropathic, and mixed pain are very important in the assessment of pain in this population of patients. When dealing with patients affected by cancer pain it is also very important to be familiar to the characteristics of specific pain syndromes that are usually encountered. In this article we review methods presently applied for classifying cancer pain highlighting the importance of an accurate clinical evaluation in providing adequate analgesia to patients.
Highlights
In oncological population, pain is one the most invalidating symptoms, affecting approximately66% of cancer patients [1]
In this article we review methods presently applied for classifying cancer pain highlighting the importance of an accurate clinical evaluation in providing adequate analgesia to patients
A few classification systems have been developed in order to classify and stratify standardized classification system for cancer pain that can be used in both clinical practice and patients by grouping them according to major common characteristics
Summary
Pain is one the most invalidating symptoms, affecting approximately. The guidelines for the management of cancer pain were developed by the. World Health Organization (WHO) in 1986 [2], but there is substantial evidence that the management of cancer pain is still often suboptimal [3,4,5]. Since cancer pain is not a homogenous entity, correct pain assessment is essential for obtaining satisfactory management. The importance of adequate pain assessment and complexity of cancer pain has been emphasized for a very long time [6,7]. Considering the importance of pain classification in providing an individual assessment and tailored treatment strategy, over the years there have been a few works that have attempted to find a comprehensive approach to classify cancer pain [8,9,10]. No standardized accepted classification system exists yet and different cancer pain classification schemes are used in research and clinical setting
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