Cancer-pain.org Provides Patients and Caregivers Education and Support For Managing Cancer Pain

The Association of Cancer Online Resources (ACOR), the largest online community of cancer patients, announces the launch of a new website, Cancer-pain.org, to provide cancer patients with the education and support they need to obtain effective relief from pain.

"There is always a way to alleviate pain; however, effective treatment of cancer pain has been a problem long acknowledged by the cancer community," said Gilles Frydman, President of ACOR. "A significant majority of cancer patients suffer pain as their disease progresses, but almost half do not get adequate pain relief. Cancer-pain.org is our commitment to help cancer patients better understand their pain and obtain more effective pain control." Cancer-pain.org features sections on the causes of pain, breakthrough cancer pain, pain treatment options, and tools to help cancer patients communicate effectively with physicians about their pain. The Web site also has a complete list of medications available to treat pain, information about complementary and alternative methods of pain control, and a section devoted to the special needs and issues of caregivers. In addition, Cancer-pain.org has an interactive section where patients and caregivers can exchange information.

The Web site's news section provides patients with updates on developments in cancer pain treatments as well as links to other cancer sites, such as the National Cancer Institute (NCI), which enable patients to stay abreast of legislative issues affecting cancer research and treatment. ACOR also has plans to add a "Healthcare Professionals Corner" where professionals can exchange information on effective pain therapies, post relevant journal articles and new clinical research and recruit patients for clinical trials, as well as take accredited CME courses on cancer pain treatment.

"We hope this site helps educate patients about new advances in the understanding and treatment of pain, including breakthrough cancer pain, which can seriously diminish quality of life for cancer patients," says Mr. Frydman. "Encouraging patients to exchange information about what works and what doesn't, as well as dispelling the myth of addiction, are two of the reasons we have developed this site to be a resource for patients and caregivers." Cancer-pain.org is supported through an educational grant from Cephalon, Inc. Members of the Cancer-pain.org Advisory Board include:

• Diane Blum, ACSW, Executive Director of Cancer Care, Inc.;
• Susan L. Butler, Ph.D., Member, Board of Director's Ovarian Cancer National Action Alliance;


• Patrick Coyne, RN, MSN, CS, CRNH, Clinical Nurse Specialist in Oncology Administration at Virginian Commonwealth University;
• June Dahl, Pharm D., Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Wisconsin Medical School;
  
• Bernard Glassman, Special Expert in Informatics, Office of Science Policy at the National Cancer Institute;


• Michael Glode, M.D., Professor of Medical Oncology at the University of Colorado;


• Michael Levy, M.D., Ph.D., Medical Director of Palliative Care Services and Medical Onologist at Fox Chase Cancer Center, Assistant Professor of Medicine at Temple University;


• Russell K. Portenoy, M.D., Chairman of the Department of Palliative Care and Pain Medicine at Beth Israel Medical Center, Medical Director of the Jacob Perlow Hospice at Beth Israel Medical Center (NYC);


• Sharon Weinstein, M.D., Director of Pain Medicine & Palliative Care at the Huntsman Cancer Institute.

The Association of Cancer Online Resources, Inc. (ACOR) is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization incorporated in New York State in 1996. As part of its mission, ACOR creates, produces, hosts and manages specific online resources for cancer patients, caregivers, healthcare professionals and basic research scientists.