title: Assessment and treatment of cancer pain: From Western to Eastern.
abstract: Satisfactory control of the cancer pain remains the single most important element in palliative care, as failure of pain relief is a major threat to the quality of life. Inadequate classification and assessment would unavoidably lead to inappropriate and impractical treatment of cancer pain, which has been a striking challenge in cancer clinical practice for the past several decades. While the cancer pain characteristics are influenced by physiological, psychological, pathological, cultural and even social factors, a comprehensive assessment and an individualized plan of care should be provided throughout the course of illness. This review attempted to describe the framework, illustrate the present evidence supporting current classification methodologies and assessment approaches, and demonstrate the advance in multidisciplinary interventions for cancer pain syndrome, including Western and Traditional Chinese medicine.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China; Department of Thoracic Oncology, Cancer Center of Sun Yat-Sen University, China.
authors.forename: Dongrong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Situ
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China; Department of Anesthesia, Cancer Center of Sun Yat-Sen University, China.
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical College; Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Disease & China State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Wenlong
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Shao
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Department of Thoracic Oncology, Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center. No. 651, East Dongfeng Rd, Guangzhou 510060, China. zhu-zh@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Zhi-Hua
authors.initials: ZH
authors.lastname: Zhu
keywords: assessment; cancer pain; traditional Chinese medicine; treatment