疼痛是大多數普通癌癥患者所遇到的癥狀，根據研究顯示由于疾病和治療等原因目前很多患者沒有得到足夠的治療
對于癌癥病人，疼痛會來自癌癥本身，慢性的炎癥以及感染。普通的癌癥治療，例如外科手術，化療以及放射療法同樣會引起疼痛，除了這些原因，疼痛時常源于不恰當的管理所引起的患者的焦慮。研究者一直致力于確定患者未能得到最佳止痛療法的主要原因。
2005年11月至2006年4月間，對106例接受放射療法的病人進行了一項網絡問卷調查以評估他們用藥情況、疼痛的控制和對止痛藥物的態度，包括處方藥物，非處方藥。58% 報告稱疼痛來自于他們的癌癥治療；46% 患者報告疼痛直接來自于癌癥；目前80% 的受調查患者稱他們沒有使用藥物去控制疼痛。
大多數患者稱他們沒有服用止疼藥物的主要原因是他們的醫生沒有向他們推薦藥物治療。這個原因主要是因為擔心患者會沉溺或依賴藥物以及沒有足夠能力支付藥物費用。一些患者同樣報告使用其他療法來減輕疼痛包括物理治療、按摩和針灸。
“排除為癌癥病人使用最佳的疼痛控制的障礙，醫生應該和他們的病人進行關于疼痛征兆和疼痛藥物的談話。”查爾斯.西蒙這項研究的負責人談到：“我們將邁出這樣一步，讓這個評估系統變為一個電子醫療記錄系統，這個系統將設計成為醫生在面對每個患者時對患者疼痛等級和止痛藥進行評估和建議?！?BR>Cancer Patients: Many Receive Insufficient Pain Therapy
Pain is one of the most common symptoms of cancer patients, yet many of them do not receive adequate therapy for the pain caused by their disease or treatments, according to a study.
For cancer patients, pain can come from the cancer itself, chronic inflammatory changes or infections. Standard cancer treatments, such as surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy can also cause pain, but despite its common occurrence, pain is a frequent source of patient anxiety due to improper management. Researchers sought to determine the main reasons that patients fail to receive optimal pain therapy.
Between November 2005 and April 2006, 106 radiation therapy patients responded to an Internet-based questionnaire that evaluated their medication use, pain control and attitudes toward pain medication, including prescription and over-the-counter pain medications. Fifty-eight percent reported pain from their cancer treatment and 46 percent of patients reported pain directly from their cancer, yet 80 percent of those patients said that they did not use medication to manage their pain. Most patients said the main reason they did not take pain medication was because their healthcare provider did not recommend it. This reason was followed by a fear of addiction or dependence and the inability to pay. Some patients also reported using alternative therapies for pain relief, including physical therapy, massage and acupuncture. “To eliminate barriers to optimal pain management for cancer patients, healthcare providers should talk with their patients about pain symptoms and pain medications,” Charles Simone, lead author of the study, said. “We have taken these steps by transitioning to an electronic medical record system that has been designed to require an evaluation and documentation of patient pain levels and pain medication responses by healthcare providers at each patient encounter