Abstract
The Japanese Society of Palliative Medicine (JSPM) published guidelines for treatment of cancer pain conforming to evidence-based medicine in 2000. In 2005, JSPM planned an update to the guidelines, and a working group was formed for the update under the direction of Prof. T. Dokiya as the chief president of the Japanese Society of Therapeutic Radiation Oncology at that time. We show the process of tasks, including the establishment of guideline questions and the creation of structured abstracts, for the proposal to develop guidelines on radiation for cancer pain limited to metastatic bone pain. The guidelines appear to be useful for clarifying the validity of irradiation for painful osseous metastases. In spite of being limited to radiotherapy for painful osseous metastases, which seems to have the most evidence in the domain of palliative irradiation, developing guidelines was an enormous task. We need to establish a standing working group to make useful guidelines available for related specialists and for adequate updating.
