Pharmacol Rep
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Oxycodone is a valued opioid analgesic, which may be administered either as the first strong opioid or when other strong opioids are ineffective. In case of insufficient analgesia and/or intense adverse effects such as sedation, hallucinations and nausea/vomiting a switch from another opioid to oxycodone might be beneficial. Oxycodone is administered to opioid-naive patients with severe pain and to patients who were unsuccessfully treated with weak opioids, namely tramadol, codeine and dihydrocodeine. ⋯ Another new product that was launched recently is a combination of prolonged-release oxycodone with prolonged-release naloxone (oxycodone/naloxone tablets). The aim of this review is to outline the pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic properties, drug interactions, dosing rules, adverse effects, equianalgesic dose ratio with other opioids and clinical studies of oxycodone in patients with cancer pain. The potential role of oxycodone/naloxone in chronic pain management and its impact on the bowel function is also discussed.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Pentazocine pretreatment suppresses fentanyl-induced cough.
This study evaluated the effect of pentazocine pretreatment on fentanyl-induced cough. With ethics committee approval, 277 ASA I-II patients, aged between 19 and 63 years, undergoing various elective surgeries during general anesthesia, were enrolled in this prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial. All patients were randomly assigned to one of three groups. ⋯ The incidence of cough was 0%, 22.6% and 4.3% in Group I, Group II and Group III, respectively. There was no significant difference in SpO(2) for the duration of the trial among the three groups. Premedication with intravenous pentazocine can minimize the incidence of fentanyl-induced cough and has no influence on blood pressure, heart rate, and SpO(2) compared with Group II.