Society guideline links: Cancer pain

Introduction — 

This topic includes links to society and government-sponsored guidelines from selected countries and regions around the world. We will update these links periodically; newer versions of some guidelines may be available on each society's website. Some societies may require users to log in to access their guidelines.

The recommendations in the following guidelines may vary from those that appear in UpToDate topic reviews. Readers who are looking for UpToDate topic reviews should use the UpToDate search box to find the relevant content.

Links to related guidelines are provided separately:

●(See "Society guideline links: Neuropathic pain".)

●(See "Society guideline links: Chronic pain management".)

●(See "Society guideline links: Palliative care".)

●(See "Society guideline links: Palliative care for advanced lung disease".)

International

●World Health Organization (WHO): Guidelines for the pharmacological and radiotherapeutic management of cancer pain in adults and adolescents (2019)

Canada

●Choosing Wisely Canada: Don't delay palliative care for a patient with serious illness who has physical, psychological, social or spiritual distress because they are pursuing disease-directed treatment (2024)

●Choosing Wisely Canada: Don't recommend more than a single fraction of palliative radiation for an uncomplicated painful bone metastasis (2024)

●British Columbia (BC) Guidelines: Palliative care for the patient with incurable cancer or advanced disease – Part 2. Pain and symptom management (2017, updated 2023)

●Canadian recommendations for the management of breakthrough cancer pain (2016)

United States

●National Cancer Institute (NCI): Cancer pain – Health professional version

●American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO): Guideline on use of opioids for adults with pain from cancer or cancer treatment (2022)

●Oncology Nursing Society (ONS): Position statement on cancer pain management (revised 2022)

●Society for Integrative Oncology (SIO)-ASCO: Guideline on integrative medicine for pain management in oncology (2022)

●American Society of Pain and Neuroscience (ASPN): Best practices and guidelines for the interventional management of cancer-associated pain (2021)

●ASCO: Resource-stratified practice guideline on palliative care in the global setting (2018)

●National Consensus Project for Hospice and Palliative Care (NCP): Clinical practice guidelines for quality palliative care, 4th edition (2018)

●ASCO: Clinical practice guideline for the management of chronic pain in survivors of adult cancers (2016)

Europe

●European Pain Federation (EFIC): Standards for the management of cancer‐related pain across Europe (2018)

●European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO): Management of cancer pain in adult patients – Clinical practice guidelines (2018)

●European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC): Recommendations on minimally invasive procedures for the management of vertebral bone pain due to cancer (2016)

●EAPC: Evidence-based recommendations for the use of opioid analgesics in the treatment of cancer pain (2012)

United Kingdom

●National Health Service (NHS) Scotland: Scottish palliative care guidelines

•Pain assessment

•Pain management

●National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE): Clinical guideline on neuropathic pain in adults − Pharmacological management in non-specialist settings (2013, updated 2020)

●NICE: Clinical guideline on palliative care for adults − Strong opioids for pain relief (2012, updated 2016)

●British Pain Society (BPS): Cancer pain management (2010)

Australia–New Zealand

●Cancer Council Australia (CCA): Clinical guidelines for cancer pain management in adults (updated 2024)

●Palliative Care Australia (PCA): National palliative care standards, 5.1 edition (2024)

Japan

●[In Japanese] Japanese Society for Palliative Medicine (JSPM): Guidelines for drug therapy for cancer pain (2020)

●[In Japanese] JSPM: Guide to basic concepts in treatment-resistant pain and sedation in cancer patients (2018)