Misconceptions on use of opioids leave patients in pain

About 76 percent of Chinese hospitals now use opioids, the internationally recognized cancer pain medication, to treat cancer pain.[Photo/IC]

As the incidence of cancer has risen in China over the past few decades, wide misconceptions about alleviating the pain it can bring have compromised the prospects of recovery and the quality of life of Chinese with the disease, medical experts say.

They made the comments in Beijing this month as a charity program for those suffering with cancer pain was established. It aims to raise public awareness on cancer pain as a specific illness that needs to be treated, and to provide quality care and support to patients and their families.

The program was initiated by organizations that do research on oncology and pain treatment, including the Chinese Association of Oncology, and the Chinese Association for the Study of Pain.

Fan Bifa, a committee member of the fifth committee of the Pain Medicine Branch of the Chinese Medical Association, and director of the pain management department of the China-Japan Friendship Hospital in Beijing, says: "More than 10 years ago international health experts accepted that cancer pain is a chronic disease that needs standardized treatment and management, but in China, patients do not welcome such treatment because they often fear they will become addicted to anti-pain drugs.

"Of course that belief is misconceived, but it is widespread."

For Chinese, opioids have undertones of the country's so-called century of humiliation starting with the First Opium War (1840-42) and lasting until 1949 when the People's Republic of China was founded.

However, fear of addiction to opioids is groundless because they do not give those who are suffering pain the euphoria that healthy people draw from them, Fan said. Nevertheless, there may be some side effects that require the attention of professionals, he says.