Breakthrough pain: definition and management
Portenoy, R.K.; Hagen, N.A.
Oncology 3(8 Suppl): 25-29
1989
ISSN/ISBN: 0890-9091 PMID: 2484297 Document Number: 333211
Breakthrough pains are highly prevalent but poorly characterized phenomena that may be experienced by the cancer patient. The term encompasses a diverse group of transient pains that vary in their relationship to the fixed analgesic dose, temporal characteristics, precipitating events, predictability, pathophysiology, and etiology. Successful management is usually possible using a combination of primary oncologic interventions, optimization of the fixed analgesic regimen, and one or more of a variety of analgesic modalities, the mainstay of which is pharmacotherapy with a so-called "rescue-dose."