The team concept in the management of pain in patients with cancer.

More than 30% of patients with cancer report chronic pain, which is an indication of both the frequency of cancer-related pain and the failure to optimally manage it. Although access to opioid analgesics has greatly improved over the past 25 years, much remains to be done for patients experiencing severe pain. Opioids are far from ideal analgesics, noted Dr. Robert A. Swarm at the recent NCCN 18th Annual Conference. Universal screening for cancer pain is part of the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines) for Adult Cancer Pain. This is not a one-time effort but should be part of management throughout the cancer care continuum.