A primary goal of pharmacological treatment of BTP is to ensure that baseline persistent pain is treated effectively with around-the-clock (ATC) doses of an analgesic. If an immediate-release (IR) opioid is being used to treat the baseline persistent pain, the dose should be slowly tapered during conversion and titration of the ATC analgesic (opioid) dose. [...]

In addition to ensuring that primary treatments for the underlying cause of the pain are used to the extent that they are appropriate, clinicians should consider the utility of non-pharmacological treatments for the management of BTP. These therapies cover a wide variety of techniques, many of which are time-honored but have not been subject to [...]

INTRODUCTION
The management of breakthrough pain (BTP) should be handled as a separate and distinct aspect of each patient’s pain syndrome. This approach allows the clinician to consider BTP as a therapy challenge separate from the patient’s baseline persistent pain (Figure 1). The treatment of BTP must be based on the individual patient factors uncovered during [...]