Paliatívna medicína a liečba bolesti 3/2011

Breakthrough cancer pain: clinical characteristics and modern strategies to its management

Breakthrough pain (BP) is a transient exacerbation of pain in patient with stable and adequatly controled background pain. The prevalenco o BP is 40–70 % among cancer patients. Pathophysiologic chracter of BP is usually linked to the character of background pain. The management of BP has to be „tailored“ individualy and combines pharmacological and non-pharmacological approaches. Transmucosal fentanyl formulations represent an important and interesting progress in BP management.

Keywords: breakthrough pain, background pain, rescue medication, transmucousal fentanyl.