Alimentary pharmacology & therapeutics
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Aliment. Pharmacol. Ther. · May 2012
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative StudyA randomised, placebo-controlled trial comparing the effects of tapentadol and oxycodone on gastrointestinal and colonic transit in healthy humans.
Tapentadol is a mu-opioid receptor agonist and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor. In clinical trials, tapentadol provided somatic pain relief comparable to mu-opioids such as oxycodone, with significantly less gastrointestinal adverse effects. The acute effects of tapentadol on gastrointestinal and colonic transit are unclear. ⋯ Tapentadol significantly delayed gastric emptying t1/2 and small bowel transit, similar to oxycodone. These data suggest that acute administration of tapentadol may not have significant advantages over standard mu-opioids, in terms of the potential to avoid upper gastrointestinal motor dysfunction.