CHRONIC PAIN SYNDROMES AND THEIR MANAGEMENT

Chronic and acute pain which affects millions of people worldwide, is very often inadequately treated, This causes great suffering and disability which may last from a few weeks to becoming permanent. The economic cost of this is enormous. In chronic pain, the pain outlasts the normal course of disease or injury and the disorder may be somatic or psychogenic, or both. Chronic pain management requires full patient evaluation before institution of therapy, and the best results are achieved by a multipronged approach. Severe pain affects more than 30% of cancer patients. The pain may be acute or chronic or related to the tumour and so the approach to management may differ, but the goal must be to relieve pain and maintain full functional status. There are many methods available for the management of pain including non-pharmacological methods but the most simple and efficacious method is by the use of oral analgesics, singly or in combination.