• Atsushi Yoshitake, Tatsuo Yamamoto, Sachiko Susaki, and Eiji Abe.
• Department of Anesthesiology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto 860-8556.
• Masui. 2014 Feb 1; 63 (2): 199-202.

AbstractWe describe successful pain control in a patient suffering from severe pain, using an opioid combination of transdermal fentanyl and oral oxycodone. A woman in her 40s with a giant-cell tumor of the sacrum suffered from refractory 4-5/5 pain on the Wong-Baker faces pain rating scale in her sacrum, feet and legs. Despite administration of fentanyl (2,520 microg day(-1)), she could not sleep in the supine position due to pain and dysesthesia. We gradually changed her medication from transdermal fentanyl to oral oxycodone. However, the patient complained of constant drowsiness after the complete switch to oral oxycodone (120 mg x day(-1)). Hence, we reduced the oral oxycodone dose and began a combination of transdermal fentanyl and oral oxycodone in addition to increasing doses of pregabalin. With the combination of transdermal fentanyl (25 microg x hr(-1)) and oral oxycodone (60 mg x day(-1)) her pain decreased to 1-3/5 on the faces pain rating scale. Our experience suggests that an opioid combination may provide favorable pain control in patients with severe pain, while minimizing the side effects of each drug.

31 keywords...

hide…