The treatment of cancer pain

Pain is probably one of the most common cancer symptoms. In addition to being a major source of suffering and disability, cancer pain is extremely frightening for patients and their families. This review discusses the current options for treating cancer pain, focusing on the pharmacological agents currently available and briefly exploring some of the surgical options for pain management. The authors propose to adjust the World Health Organization (WHO) pain management ladder from its current three-step approach to a more sophisticated five-step algorithm that includes physical and psychological modalities along the entire continuum of care and adds two more steps related to neuromodulative and neurodestructive procedures once the opioids fail.