Artykuły poglądowe i wytyczne
Podstawowe zasady farmakoterapii bólu u chorych na nowotwory i inne przewlekłe, postępujące, zagrażające życiu choroby

During the workshops of the Alliance for a Fight against Pain (NGO) it was revealed that one of the barriers in pain treatment is fear of opioids as a result of ignorance of the rules of using this group of medicines. Based on the up-to-date recommendations of recognized scientific societies: the European Association for Palliative Care (2012), the European Society for Medical Oncology (2012), Polish Society of Palliative Medicine (2009) and on the most recent systematic reviews, we drew up the basic rules of the management of pain in patients with cancer or other chronic progressive life-threatening diseases. These guidelines are a simplified compilation of recommendations concerning pharmacotherapy of pain, aimed for delivering of simple instructions to facilitate clinical decisions of physicians not being palliative care professionals. The paper was prepared in a form of rules with short comments including such instructions. This does not exhaust a subject of pharmacotherapy of cancer pain, however allows for making a decision on initiation of treatment with opioid analgesics, as well as on choice of appropriate medicines and doses.