[Pain and cancer Information dedicated to cancer patients and relatives]. / Douleur et cancer Informations à l'usage des personnes malades et de leurs proches.

Patient information is a major challenge for public health. It has become part of the patients' rights, in response to their need for information and involvement in medical decision-making. Since 1998, the French National Federation of Comprehensive Cancer Centres (FNCLCC) has developed an information and education program dedicated to patients and relatives: the SOR SAVOIR PATIENT program. The methodology of the program adheres to the quality criteria established for the elaboration of documents containing patient information. The SOR SAVOIR PATIENT guide Pain and Cancer aims to answer patients' questions regarding cancer specific pain and to help them become actively involved in their care. It was elaborated by a multidisciplinary workgroup, which included methodologists, one linguist, pain specialists and twenty patients and relatives. Patients' information needs and personal experience of pain were assessed using focus groups, semi-structured interviews and questionnaires. Through eight chapters, which can be read in an independent way, Pain and cancer provides key information on the causes, the mechanisms, the evaluation, the prevention and the treatment of pain. The guide also presents advices and practical tools to facilitate the assessment of the pain and the communication between patients and professionals. Finally, this guide aims to overcome ideas such as that morphine is synonymous of end of life or drug addiction, that pain is a sign of aggravation of cancer and that nurses know how to detect the pain. Intended first for the patients and their close relations, Pain and Cancer is also a useful tool for health professionals. Indeed, it presents knowledge based on the most recent recommendations developed for clinical practice. Thanks to a wide distribution of the guide to patients, their families and the professionals, we trust that this guide will facilitate dialogue around pain, and ultimately its care. This article is an abstract of the guide. The complete SOR SAVOIR PATIENT guide can be downloaded from the SOR website at: www.sor-cancer.fr.

[Standards, options and recommendations for the management of procedure-related pain (lumbar puncture, bone marrow aspiration or biopsy, blood sampling) in children patients with cancer (summary report)]. / Recommandations pour la pratique clinique: Standards, options et recommandations pour la prise en charge des douleurs provoquées lors des ponctions lombaires, sanguines et osseuses chez l'enfant atteint de cancer (rapport abrégé).

CONTEXT: The Standards, Options and Recommendations (SOR) project, started in 1993, is a collaboration between the Federation of French Cancer Centres (FNCLCC), the 20 French cancer centres, and specialists from French public universities, general hospitals and private clinics. The main objective is the development of clinical practice guidelines to improve the quality of health care and the outcome of cancer patients. The methodology is based on a literature review and critical appraisal by a multidisciplinary group of experts, with feedback from specialists in cancer care delivery. OBJECTIVES: To establish the Standards, Options and Recommendations clinical practice guidelines for the management of procedure related pain (lumbar puncture, bone marrow aspiration or biopsy, blood sampling) in children oncology patients. To define, on the basis of the critical appraisal of the best available evidence and expert agreement, the clinical situations in which a pain preventive strategy should be implemented. METHODS: MEDLINE was searched using specific search strategies from January 1966 to August 2004. Literature monitoring was performed to identify controlled clinical trials published in 2005. RESULTS: A total of 57 references were identified. Clinical guidelines have been defined for each invasive procedure.

[2003 clinical practice guideline: Standards, Options and Recommendations for pain assessment in adult and children with cancer (summary report)]. / Recommandations pour la pratique clinique: Standards, Options et Recommandations pour l'évaluation de la douleur chez l'adulte et l'enfant atteints d'un cancer (mise à jour)--rapport abrégé.

CONTEXT: The "Standards, Options and Recommendations" (SOR) project, which started in 1993, is a collaboration between the French Federation of Cancer Centers (FNCLCC), the 20 French Regional Cancer Centers, and specialists from French public universities, general hospitals and private clinics. The main objective is the development of clinical practice guidelines to improve the quality of health care and the outcome of cancer patients. OBJECTIVE: To update clinical practice guidelines for the assessment of pain in adult or children with cancer in collaboration with the French society for pain study and treatment. METHOD: The methodology is based on a literature review and critical appraisal by a multidisciplinary group of experts who define the CPGs according to the definitions of the Standards, Options and Recommendations project. Once the guideline has been defined, the document is submitted for review by independent reviewers. RESULTS: This article is a summary version of the full document presenting the clinical practice guidelines with algorithms. The main recommendations concern the means used to evaluate pain and its consequences and their use in specific cases (acute or chronic pain, patients able to communicate or not, children under or over 6 years old). Others recommendations were also established concerning the evaluation ofpsychological, social and family context, the evaluation of pain in hospital or at home, in terminal phase patients and for the establishment of a therapeutic strategy and follow-up of patient with pain.

[Standards, options and recommendations for the use of medical analgesics for the treatment of pain arising from excess nociception in adults with cancer (update 2002): opioid analgesics with the exception of morphine by mouth and the rotation]. / Standards, Options et Recommandations 2002 pour les traitements antalgiques médicamenteux des douleurs cancéreuses par excès de nociception chez l'adulte, mise à jour : place des opioïdes forts (morphine orale exclue) et rotation des opioïdes.

CONTEXT: The "Standards, Options and Recommendations" (SOR) project, started in 1993, is a collaboration between the federation of French Cancer Centers (FNCLCC), the 20 French cancer centers, and specialists from French public universities, general hospitals and private clinics. The main objective is the development of clinical practice guidelines to improve the quality of health care and the outcome of cancer patients. The methodology is based on a literature review and critical appraisal by a multidisciplinary group of experts, with feedback from specialists in cancer care delivery. OBJECTIVES: To develop clinical practice guidelines for the use of opioid analgesics with the exception of oral morphine and for opioid rotation related to the treatment of nociceptive pain in adults with cancer according to the definitions of the Standards, Options and Recommendations project. METHODS: In 1996, a working group, set up by the FNCLCC published clinical practice guidelines for pain management in adult and paediatric patients with cancer: In the light of the evolution of knowledge, and practice these guidelines need to be updated The section on "médical analgesic treatments" in the document published in 1996 was examined by the working group to identify which questions should be updated. These questions and the relevant key words were used to develop a search strategy which was used to search Medline, and for particular questions, Embase, from January 1994 to March 1999, for relevant references, published in English or French. RESULTS: For this update, only a few randomised clinical trials were identified, and their conclusions were generally weak. Thus much of the information in this document is based on the World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines and represents the "state of the art" on this subject in France and is supported by expert agreement. Some changes to the original SOR are presented, particularly for the prescription of new opioids and opioid rotation. The full text of this SOR is available on the FNCLCC web site (http ://www.fnclcc.fr).