Managing Cancer Breakthrough Pain

Introduction.- What is cancer breakthrough pain?.- Medications for cancer breakthrough pain.- Practical approach to the management of cancer breakthrough pain.- Abuse, aberrant drug behavior, diversion, and addiction.- TIRF REMS Access program.- Summary.

Donald Taylor, MD, is the Medical Director at Comprehensive Pain Care, PC, and the Principal Investigator for Taylor Research, LLC. He graduated from the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, GA in 1984. He then completed a residency in Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, MD. After this, he stayed at Johns Hopkins Hospital for a fellowship in Regional Anesthesia and Pain Management. During his fellowship he established the use of patient-controlled analgesia and epidural analgesia for postoperative pain at Johns Hopkins Hospital. After his fellowship was completed, he remained on the faculty for a year in the division of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Management, providing services in the operating room and in the pain clinic. In 1990, he left Johns Hopkins Hospital and returned to his native Georgia where he entered the private practice of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine. He has spent the past 22 years practicing pain medicine and conducting Phase II and III clinical trials for pain management medications and devices. His interest in the treatment of cancer-related pain began in his residency when he saw the great relief of suffering that regional anesthetic techniques and skillfully administered medications could bring to patients with cancer. He continues to care for such patients today and has been involved in Phase III clinical trials of several of the newest class of medications, known today as the rapid-onset opioids, developed specifically for the management of cancer breakthrough pain.