9th Annual Pain and Palliative Care Conference

The funding received from Depomed, Inc. will be efficiently used to support the Pain and Palliative Care Conference. Dr. Judith Paice, Conference Chair and Director of the Cancer Pain Program at Northwestern University, indicates the following. Pain is common in those individuals diagnosed with cancer, ranging from 14% to 100%. At the time of diagnosis, approximately 20% -75% of adults have pain, while 23%-100% of those with advanced disease report pain. Despite advances in pharmacologic therapies, under-treatment of cancer pain persists. The National Cancer Institute, the American Cancer Society, the American Pain Society, the International Association for the Study of Pain and other organizations support efforts to determine the causes of inadequate relief and to overcome these barriers. Until recently, experimental models that analyzed the neurobiology of pain due to cancer or other life threatening illnesses did not exist, limiting our understanding of the unique mechanisms of these phenomena. The development of rodent models of bone pain and chemotherapy-induced neuropathies provide insights into the neurobiology of cancer pain, eventually leading to the development of targeted, mechanism based therapies. Furthermore, greater understanding of cancer pain biology may enhance knowledge related to other symptoms common in end of life care.