• Ulf Schutter, Ingrid Ritzdorf, and Birgit Heckes.
• Facharzt für Allgemeinmedizin und Anaesthesiologie, Spezielle Schmerztherapie, Marl. ulf.schutter@t-online.de
• MMW Fortschr Med. 2008 Jun 26;150 Suppl 2:96-103.

AbstractPatients with osteoarthritis often suffer from chronic pain. If pain treatment with NSAIDS and coxibes is no longer indicated, a constant and user friendly opioid analgesia can be achieved with a low dose buprenorphine patch being applicated using an interval of 7 days. The use of this matrix patch was evaluated in a multicenter observational study on 4263 patients in clinical practice. During treatment a significant decrease of mean pain intensity on a 11-point scale could be observed from 6.9 points before using the patch to 2.9 points at the end of observation. Further effects were a decrease of additional analgetic medication and an improvement of aspects of life quality, e.g. mobility and quality of sleep. Only in 4.5% of the patients adverse effects were observed, reflecting the expected range of adverse effects of opioids. Thus it could be demonstrated that the use of the transdermal patch is an effective, user friendly and safe way of chronic pain relief for osteoarthritis patients.

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