Cancer breakthrough pain : Indications for rapidly effective opioids.
Summary of "Cancer breakthrough pain : Indications for rapidly effective opioids."
The pharmacotherapy of tumor pain has two main aims: to deliver an adequate basic analgesia using long-term retarded opioid medication and an effective treatment of tumor breakthrough pain using rapidly effective non-retarded opioids. Breakthrough pain is characterized by a sudden onset and rapid increase in the pain level and should be treated with correspondingly rapidly effective opioids. The pharmacological characteristics of previously available and routinely prescribed non-retarded opioids do not always correspond in oral galenics to the demands resulting from the definition of tumor breakthrough pain. As alternatives to these substances five different rapidly effective fentanyl preparations are now available for transmucosal administration.
Affiliation
Klinik für Anaesthesiologie, Zentrum für Schmerztherapie und Palliativmedizin, Universitätsklinikum Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 131, 69120, Heidelberg, Deutschland, jens.kessler@med.uni-heidelberg.de.
Journal Details
This article was published in the following journal.
Name: Der Anaesthesist
ISSN: 1432-055X
Pages:
Links
- PubMed Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21491140
- DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00101-011-1868-1
Medical and Biotech [MESH] Definitions
Meperidine
A narcotic analgesic that can be used for the relief of most types of moderate to severe pain, including postoperative pain and the pain of labor. Prolonged use may lead to dependence of the morphine type; withdrawal symptoms appear more rapidly than with morphine and are of shorter duration.
Fenretinide
A synthetic retinoid that is used orally as a chemopreventive against prostate cancer and in women at risk of developing contralateral breast cancer. It is also effective as an antineoplastic agent.
Etodolac
A nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agent with potent analgesic and antiarthritic properties. It has been shown to be effective in the treatment of OSTEOARTHRITIS; RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS; ankylosing SPONDYLITIS; and in the alleviation of postoperative pain (PAIN, POSTOPERATIVE).
Receptors, Opioid
Cell membrane proteins that bind opioids and trigger intracellular changes which influence the behavior of cells. The endogenous ligands for opioid receptors in mammals include three families of peptides, the enkephalins, endorphins, and dynorphins. The receptor classes include mu, delta, and kappa receptors. Sigma receptors bind several psychoactive substances, including certain opioids, but their endogenous ligands are not known.
Pain, Referred
A type of pain that is perceived in an area away from the site where the pain arises, such as facial pain caused by lesion of the VAGUS NERVE, or throat problem generating referred pain in the ear.
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