A Chinese Guideline for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Chronic Cancer-related Pain

Background: Chronic cancer-related pain can seriously damage physical and mental health of cancer patients. Eliminating cancer pain is basic right of cancer patients, controlling and eliminating cancer pain is the responsibility of medical staff. Objective: To further enhance the diagnosis and treatment capabilities for chronic cancer-related pain management, the Chinese Clinical Guideline for Chronic Cancer-Related Pain convened an expert panel to develop the guideline. Main ideas: Based on high quality evidence of medical researches on the diagnosis and treatment of chronic cancer-related pain published domestically and internationally in the past 10 years, the expert group has formed recommendations for common treatment methods through rigorous argumentation and expert voting, to provide references for standardized diagnosis and treatment of chronic cancer-related pain. This guideline adopts GRADE methodology to evaluate the level of evidence and strength of recommendation for the treatments of chronic cancer-related pain. This guideline gives treatment recommendations for different types of chronic cancer-related pain in International Classification of Diseases-11, as well as for breakthrough cancer pain. Conclusion: Although there are many treatments to relieve chronic cancer-related pain, it is still a global medical challenge. According to the characteristics of cancer-related pain, stepped and personalized treatment is the key to relieve pain.