Pathophysiology of Cancer Related Pain : A Brief Report

Pain is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage. Cancer related pain is still permanent, and is feared as problematic worldwide. Cancer pain management is the most problematic when found in patients who have a malignant tumor, and represents the most feared consequences for patients and their families. Cancer related pain management stays a challenge in cancer patients, their families, and oncology nurses due to lack of knowledge and assessment of pain which causes inadequate pain management. There is agreement among experts about the classification of pain into nociceptive, neuropathic, psychogenic, mixed, or idiopathic. This classification is found useful in assessment and therapeutic decision making. Nonetheless, it is now widely accepted that persistent pain may be sustained by different types of mechanisms and experts agree that clinical characteristics can be used to broadly divide pain syndromes into nociceptive, neuropathic, psychogenic, mixed, or idiopathic. Those involved with overlapping cancer related pain should be aware of the barrier of the realization that faces health care providers; thus, they need more studies to further understand the unique molecular mechanisms by which cancer produces sensitization and pain so that new pharmacological targets can be identified that will reduce or block tumor-evoked sensitization.