NCCN and ACS Release First-Ever Patient Guidelines
for Cancer Pain Management
About one-third of the cancer patients in the U.S. suffer from significant
pain. Pain can affect a patient in many ways. It can cause a reduction
in activity, prevent sleep and inhibit eating. Pain also can make a patient
feel afraid and depressed.
Today, a new resource was made available to help cancer patients work
more effectively with their doctors to make informed decisions about their
available pain treatment options. The National Comprehensive Cancer Network
(NCCN), of which the UNMC Eppley Cancer Center is a founding and existing
member, and the American Cancer Society (ACS) announced the availability
of their first supportive care patient guidelines, Cancer Pain Treatment
Guidelines for Patients.
Patients have a right to appropriate pain assessment and management,
said Ken Cowan, M.D., Ph.D., director of the UNMC Eppley Cancer Center.
This information will facilitate the process of informed decision-making
by patients in collaboration with physicians and help assure that patients
achieve the best possible pain relief. Often this pain can be substantially
reduced or eliminated and patients can be made more comfortable during
their battles with cancer.
Dr. Cowan said misperceptions about the likelihood of drug addiction
and abuse among cancer patients have resulted in avoidance of appropriate
pain control by some patients.
Reactions to recent disturbing media coverage of drug addicts and painkiller
abuse ironically may interfere with important efforts to appropriately
manage cancer patients pain, Dr. Cowan said. In fact, when pain
medicines are given and taken appropriately, patients rarely become addicted
to them.
Undertreatment of pain is a significant public health problem in our
country, but the NCCN/ACS patient pain guidelines will give cancer patients
and their families solid understanding and reasonable expectations to make
them informed partners with their physicians in managing pain and preserving
a good quality of life.
Sometimes it is hard to gauge how much pain my son is experiencing,
said Jill McConnell, mother of 13-year-old cancer patient Marc McConnell
of Loup City, Neb. Marc has a high tolerance for pain, so when he says
he hurts, I know it must be pretty severe. The pain charts help me understand
it better.
Its hard to describe how much you hurt, Marc said. Especially when
you dont feel good. Pain becomes one more thing to think about.
Id rather have fun and laugh.
The patient guidelines are the result of a collaborative effort between
NCCN and ACS and are derived directly from the professional oncology practice
guidelines developed for physicians by the NCCN. The patient guidelines
also provide background information on cancer pain, its causes, various
treatment options and a glossary of terms.
Dr. Cowan said the NCCN/ACS Cancer Pain Treatment Guidelines for Patients
is one of a series of guidelines developed by the NCCN/ACS partnership.
Other guidelines in the series deal with breast, prostate and colon/rectal
cancer. He added that the guidelines are written in plain, understandable
language for patients and their families.
The NCCN intends to develop patient guidelines for the 10 most frequently
occurring cancers and the major supportive care areas, Dr. Cowan said.
Upcoming patient guidelines include lung cancer, ovarian cancer, myeloma,
non-melanoma skin cancer, nausea and vomiting, and cancer-related fatigue.
The publications also are being translated into Spanish.
To order a free copy of NCCN/ACS Cancer Pain Treatment Guidelines for
Patients contact the UNMC Eppley Cancer Center HelpLine at 1-800-999-5465.
You also may visit the NCCN and ACS Web sites at www.nccn.org or www.cancer.org.
Requests by e-mail may be made to patientinformation@nccn.org.