Journal of pain and symptom management
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Nov 1993
Use of the Edmonton Injector for parenteral opioid management of cancer pain: a study of 100 consecutive patients.
In this retrospective study, we reviewed the patterns of use of the Edmonton Injector (EI) in 100 consecutive cancer patients. Seventy-eight patients used the EI for an average of 23 +/- 27 days. The main reasons for starting the EI were nausea (37 patients) and severe pain (31 patients). ⋯ The average cost of treatment was $1.65 Canadian per patient per day. No mechanical problems or refusals to start or continue treatment were detected. We conclude that the EI is a safe and simple device that allows for cost-effective parenteral administration of opioids for cancer pain.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Nov 1993
Intrathecal infusional analgesia for nonmalignant pain: analgesic efficacy of intrathecal opioid with or without bupivacaine.
We report on the analgesic efficacy of intrathecal infusions of opioids alone or in combination with bupivacaine in 16 nonmalignant pain patients with implanted pumps. Three patients had nociceptive pain, five had neuropathic pain, and 8 had mixed pain syndromes. Infusional therapy was delivered over a combined monthly total of 445 mo of therapy (mean, 27.8 mo). ⋯ Thirteen patients (81%) reported good to excellent results with opioid alone or opioid combined with bupivacaine. The addition of bupivacaine improved analgesia in two of three patients with nociceptive pain (66.7%), compared to eight of ten patients with a pure or mixed neuropathic component to their pain (80%). We conclude that intrathecal opioids alone or in combination with bupivacaine are efficacious for the treatment of nonmalignant pain states and are relatively free of significant side effects or tolerance.