Cancer Pain: interdisciplinary and comprehensive management

Cancer is responsible for 25% of all deaths in the Western world. About 80% of all terminal cancer patients suffer from suboptimal pain treatment. However, cancer pain can be relieved in more than 80% of the patients. Caregivers have to implement the existing knowledge of pain pathophysiology and to follow the internationally validated pain treatment guidelines with an individually tailored selection of the available analgesics. In the present thesis, 4 questions of effective cancer pain treatment in daily clinical practice have been investigated. A comprehensive approach to cancer pain relief asks for interdisciplinary cooperation of skilled medical and paramedical professionals. It remains a challenge to develop better cancer pain relief and control of other palliative symptoms. The understanding what really matters for patients, how they would like to be cared for and the optimalization of the process of dying are other challenges for the next few years. Scientifically derived data will have to provide the basis for further improving pain and symptom control.