International journal of tissue reactions
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The growing incidence of cancer pathology all over the world implies not only problems of prevention and cure, but also of pain control. Pain appears in more than 50% of cancer patients, mainly because analgesic opioids are not available or adequately administered. For this reason, the World Health Organization (WHO) has created a Collaborating Centre for Cancer Pain Relief at the Division of Pain Therapy of the National Cancer Institute, Milan. ⋯ Treatment is then either discontinued or changed to a following step because of side-effects (40%) or inefficacy (44%). The reduction in the use of non-narcotics corresponds to a successive increase in the use of opioids, particularly direct agonists. Through an adequate use of the analgesic ladder, pain can be relieved in the great majority of cancer patients.