• Aleksander Stepanović, Jelka Pirc, and Slavica Lahajnar Čavlović.
• Community Health Centre Kranj, Kranj, Slovenia. aleksander.stepanovic1@guest.arnes.si
• Wien. Klin. Wochenschr. 2011 Sep 1; 123 (17-18): 531-5.

IntroductionStrong opioids are efficient drugs for treating chronic pain. In cancer patients, strong opioids are the mainstay of pain management, but in non-cancer pain caution is advised due to possible adverse effects, addictive potential and drug abuse.AimsWe studied the efficacy of OROS(®) hydromorphone in the treatment of chronic pain, the appearance and frequency of any adverse effects, the impact upon quality of life.MethodsBetween April 2008 and May 2009 197 patients who received OROS hydromorphone for the treatment of severe chronic pain were monitored for 90 days. Seventy patients had cancer-related pain and 127 suffered pain due to non-malignant diseases, mostly degenerative joint disease.ResultsDuring the monitoring period, the average pain score on the VAS scale fell from 8.1 to 3.3. A total of 70 adverse effects (AE) were reported and 17 patients stopped treatment due to these AE. The most frequent AEs included drowsiness, headache, vertigo, nausea, vomiting and constipation. According to patients, their quality of life greatly improved during the monitoring period.ConclusionThe severity of patients' pain decreased during treatment with OROS hydromorphone with few adverse effects. The observed pain relief was accompanied by an improvement in the quality of the patients' lives.

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