Articles: palliative-care.
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In order to assess the analgesia obtained from single oral doses of paracetamol alone and in combination with codeine in postoperative pain, we conducted a systematic review of randomised controlled trials. We found 31 trials of paracetamol against placebo with 2515 patients, 19 trials of paracetamol plus codeine against placebo with 1204 patients and 13 trials of paracetamol plus codeine against the same dose of paracetamol with 874 patients. Pain relief information was extracted, and converted into dichotomous information (number of patients with at least 50% pain relief). ⋯ In indirect comparisons of each with placebo it was 14 extra patients per 100. This was an NNT for adding codeine 60 mg of 9.1 (5.8-24). The results confirm that paracetamol is an effective analgesic, and that codeine 60 mg added to paracetamol produces worthwhile additional pain relief even in single oral doses.
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Comparative Study
Developments in the treatment of cancer pain in Finland: the third nation-wide survey.
This survey was designed to investigate the current status of the management of cancer pain in Finland. In 1995 a questionnaire was randomly sent to 5% (n = 546) of Finnish physicians, excluding specialists not expected to treat cancer patients. Two previous surveys, using the same questionnaire, were conducted in 1985 and 1990 by Vainio. ⋯ In the case of local severe pain due to recurrent rectal cancer, 63% of the physicians suggested anaesthetic intervention. Insufficient pain relief and lack of experience were the most common difficulties in pain management. Only one-third of the physicians thought that they had enough time and ability to give sufficient psychological support to their patients.
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A retrospective study of patients with cancer diagnoses treated at a Swedish county hospital was carried out in order to analyse medical care utilization by incurable cancer patients. All 208 patients customarily treated at the Department of General Surgery in Ostersund Hospital for cancer diagnoses during 1 year were included in the study. The main outcome measures were: number of institutional days; admissions; duration of terminal hospitalization. ⋯ The duration of the terminal hospitalization seemed to be unrelated to various diagnoses and demographic variables. Patients with cancer of the breast utilized most institutional days/patient (median 80 institutional days) during the disease course. Married patients and patients living within a 40 km radius of the hospital spent significantly more days at the Department of General Surgery during the last 6 months of life than did the unmarried and those living further afield.
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Methadone is a synthetic opioid agonist considered a second choice drug in the management of cancer pain. Methadone has a number of unique characteristics including excellent oral and rectal absorption, no known active metabolites, high potency, low cost, and longer administration intervals, as well as an incomplete cross-tolerance with respect to other mu-opioid receptor agonist drugs. ⋯ Recent findings suggest that standard equianalgesic tables are unreliable for methadone titration in patients tolerant to high doses of opioid agonists and that switchovers should take place slowly and should be personalized. Future research has to better define the variation in both bioavailability and elimination of methadone in different patient populations, the interaction between methadone and the most commonly used drugs in cancer patients, the type and activity of potential methadone metabolites, and the equianalgesic doses between methadone and the most commonly used opioids.
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Until now, there have not been any parameters to monitor opioid therapy in cancer patients with pain. In this study, 325 consecutive advanced cancer patients were scheduled for a prospective longitudinal survey. After exclusions, 67 patients were surveyed. ⋯ Psychological factors were associated with poor pain relief, probably reducing the patient's compliance. The tools used in this study may be useful in monitoring the effects of opioid therapy in cancer pain patients. Simple numbers are easy to compare and make it possible to profile opioid responsiveness and differences among patients.