Recently, patient controlled analgesia (PCA) has gained prominence in the treatment of pain for children suffering from vaso-occlusive crisis associated with sickle cell disease. Because there are several different regimens that can be used for PCA,…
BACKGROUND: Both locally expressed beta-endorphin (END) and low doses of morphine relieve pain within inflamed knee joints. Here we examined whether enhanced inflammation and END expression within the synovial tissue of patients undergoing…
AIM: To assess the use of methadone in patients with cancer pain who fail to respond to increasing doses of other opioids or experience intolerable side-effects from them. METHOD: Inpatients of a specialist palliative care unit were titrated onto…
The neuropeptide nociceptin/orphanin FQ (N/OFQ) is the endogenous ligand for the opioid-like receptor ORL-1 and is thought to be involved in pain transmission and modulation. Human studies have not yet defined its role in pain patients. The aims of…
PURPOSE: To define the dose ratio between morphine and methadone in relation to the previous morphine dose and the number of days needed to achieve the same level of analgesia in a group of patients with advanced cancer with pain who switched from…