BMJ supportive & palliative care
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BMJ Support Palliat Care · Apr 2019
Efficacy of low-dose and/or adjuvant methadone in palliative medicine.
To summarise the current body of published evidence on the use of low-dose and/or adjuvant methadone in the palliative care setting. ⋯ While case series and chart reviews offer promising results about the utility of adjuvant and/or low-dose methadone in the management of complex pain, the very low evidence quality, relative dearth of studies and near absence of randomised controlled trials make it impossible to draw firm conclusions. Thus, while very preliminary evidence suggests methadone is a potentially effective and valuable agent, further research must be performed before such findings can be implemented into clinical practice.