• A Agbalaka, K Schwenke, and B Litzenburger.
• Praxis für Spezielle Schmerztherapie, Kassel.
• MMW Fortschr Med. 2012 Dec 17;154 Suppl 4:123-30.

Study ObjectiveThis subgroup analysis of a non-interventional study involving general practitioners and internists investigated the administration of tapentadol prolonged release (Palexia retard) for the treatment of severe chronic tumor pain in routine clinical practice in Germany.MethodsData of all patients in the study cohort who were exclusively diagnosed with tumor pain (n = 143) were included in this analysis. Data collection during the 3-month observation period included previous and concomitant analgesic treatment, tapentadol PR dosage, pain intensity, sleep and quality of life parameters, and tolerability of tapentadol PR.ResultsA total of 96.5% of all patients with tumor pain had already received analgesic long-term treatment prior to initiation of tapentadol PR therapy, 49.0% of those strong opioids. Switching to tapentadol PR resulted in a mean pain reduction of 3.8 points from 7.1 +/- 1.4 at baseline to 3.3 +/- 1.9 at end of observation (NRS-11, 11-point pain scale; descriptive pvalue < or = 0.001). At end of observation, 67.4% of the patients had experienced a clinically relevant pain relief of > or = 50%, and 89.9% of the patients attained either their intended pain reduction and/or an additional individual treatment goal; both goals had been predefined at start of tapentadol PR treatment. This was accompanied by a significant decrease in pain-related impairments of daily activities and an improvement in quality of life (descriptive p value < or = 0.001) with an overall good tolerability of tapentadol PR. Treatment with tapentadol PR was assessed positively by physicians and patients.ConclusionsTreatment with tapentadol PR resulted in marked effective and well tolerated relief of severe tumor pain accompanied by an improvement of pain-related impairments of daily activities and quality of life in this routine clinical practice non-interventional study. Tapentadol PR--an innovative effective analgesic--might thus provide an alternative treatment option in the management of tumor pain.

21 keywords...

hide…