A Consensus on Opioid Prescription for Oncologic Patients in Latin America - A DELPHI Study.

As seen worldwide, cancer incidence is increasing in Latin America achieving an amount of 1.3 million new cases annually.1 In addition, it is expected that up to 70% of patients with cancer will experience pain2, one of the most distressing symptoms in patients with advanced cancer.

And despite of advances in cancer therapies, opioids remain the mainstay treatment of cancer-related moderate-to-severe and end-of-life pain.3 However, concerns regarding opioid prescriptions have emerged for reasons like the risk of misuse and the possibility of cancer progression.

In the last decades, an increase in consumption of opioids as well as in opioids-related deaths generating the so called 'opioid crisis'. This rise is mainly due to abuse / addiction of opioids. Consequently, oncologic patients are at risk for abuse, as well as for aberrant use, which can complicate the course of cancer treatment.4 5 Another feature of opioids use in cancer patients is that it may contribute to disease progression. Experimental studies suggest that opioids can may lead to immunosuppression and tumor progression or recurrence.6-8 On the other hand, retrospective analysis of clinical data shows conflicting results and trials are lacking.