/REVIEW ARTICLE UDK 616.8-009.7:616-006 Cancer pain (classification and pain syndromes)

Inspite the new informations about the physiology and biochemistry of pain, it remains true that pain is only partially understood. Cancer pain is often experienced as several different types of pain, with combined somatic and neuropathic types the most frequently. If the acute cancer pain does not subside with initial therapy, patients experience pain of more constant nature, the characteristics of wich vary with the cause and the involved sites. Chronic pain related to cancer can be considered as tumor-induced pain, chemotherapy-induced pain, and radiation therapyinduced pain. Certain pain mechanisms are present in cancer patients. These include inflammation due to infection, such as local sepsis or the pain of herpe