The World Health Organisation analgesic ladder: its place in modern Irish medical practice.

Pain is the single most common reason why patients seek medical care. Worldwide, there are 10 million new cases of cancer each year, with 6 million deaths annually. The World Health Organisation (WHO) first published Cancer Pain Relief in 1986, designed to be a simple, intuitive and accessible guide to the management of cancer pain that would be applicable and useful whatever the language, culture, economy, country and clinical setting. In Ireland today, we have ready access to many different opioids, and the WHO guidelines may seem inadequate and outdated. This article describes the evolution and use of the WHO guidelines, as viewed from the global perspective of its 193 member nations. The WHO ladder still remains valid today in Ireland, even as we await the imminent publication of new evidence-based national cancer pain guidelines this year.