[Cancer pain management].

Pain, the most frequent subjective symptom in cancer patients, can and must be treated. Satisfactory pain relief helps whatever patients achieve their remaining potential. This transforms his experience and the memories of his family. Management of pain becomes the physician's primary objective if there is no available treatment for the cause of pain. The use of analgesic drugs is the mainstay in cancer pain management. When used correctly, analgesics are effective in a high percentage of cancer patients. This approach can be implemented in all medical settings and serves to improve quality of life in far-advanced cancer patients. A three-step analgesic ladder indicating the sequential use of the drugs was proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1986. The three standard analgesics making up this ladder are aspirin (non-opioid), codeine (weak opioid) and morphine (strong opioid). In patients with mild pain, non-opioid drugs such as aspirin, acetaminophen, or any of the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs will be adequate. In patients with moderate pain, if non-opioids do not provide adequate relief, codeine or an alternative weak opioid should be prescribed. In patients with severe pain, morphine, a strong opioid, is the drug of choice. A series of principles established on the basis of considerable clinical experience and of controlled studies of analgesics indicate that the dose of an analgesic should be determined on an individual basis, and administered on a regular basis by the clock.