Barriers in cancer pain management

Inadequate pain management of cancer patients remains a striking problem de spite impressive scientific progress in the knowledge at the pathophysiolog y, pathogenesis and therapy of pain. Our paper focuses on three topics: 1. physician-related barriers, 2. patient-related barriers, and 3. society- an d tradition-related barriers as well as government regulations. It is imper ative to overcome these barriers, especially since legal regulations for pa in management were embodied into statutory regulations in Austria two years ago.