Acta anaesthesiologica Scandinavica
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Acta Anaesthesiol Scand · Jan 1997
Long-term intrathecal infusion of morphine in the home care of patients with advanced cancer.
Fear of infections and other complications has made many clinicians avoid intrathecal application of morphine in chronic cancer pain. However, recent comparative studies show that, in long-term treatment, intrathecal morphine administration may give a more satisfactory pain relief with lower doses of morphine and fewer side-effects than epidural administration. In Montpellier Cancer Institute, first cancer pain patients received long-term intrathecal morphine as early as in 1979, and since then more than 400 patients have been treated. ⋯ Long-term intrathecal morphine infusion seems to provide satisfactory analgesia, few side-effects and a high degree of patient autonomy.
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Morphine is a potent opioid analgesic widely used for the treatment of acute pain and for long-term treatment of severe pain. Morphine is a member of the morphinan-framed alkaloids, which are present in the poppy plant. The drug is soluble in water, but its solubility in lipids is poor. ⋯ M3G exhibits no analgesic effect after ICV or IT administration. Some studies do, however, indicate that M3G may cause non-opioid mediated hyperalgesia/allodynia and convulsions after IT administration in rats. These observations led to the hypothesis that M3G might be responsible for side-effects, hyperalgesia/allodynia and myoclonus seen after high-dose morphine treatment.
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Acta Anaesthesiol Scand · Jan 1997
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical TrialAnalgesia following arthroscopy--a comparison of intra-articular morphine, pethidine and fentanyl.
It has recently been reported that morphine given in low doses intra-articularly can produce significant analgesia in patients undergoing arthroscopic knee joint surgery. Data are lacking on the effect of other opioids using a local approach for drug delivery. We studied the analgesic effect of intra-articular opioids in 70 patients, divided into 7 groups, subjected to arthroscopic knee surgery in general anesthesia. ⋯ If analysing the results with regards to if opioids were given intra-articularly or systemically, not considering the type of opioid given, we did however, find a significantly lower total sum of pain scores at movement following local administration (P < 0.05). No specific side-effects were detected. We conclude that pethidine given intra-articularly merits further investigation with respect to postoperative analgesia following the activation of peripheral opioid mechanisms.
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Acta Anaesthesiol Scand · Jan 1997
Comparative StudyA comparison of pressure- and volume-controlled ventilation at different inspiratory to expiratory ratios.
Inverse ratio ventilation (IRV) is frequently used in severe acute respiratory failure. IRV may lead to intrinsic positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) and is thought to improve oxygenation and to have advantageous effects on lung mechanics. Published data to support the use of IRV are scarce. This animal study compares external PEEP with intrinsic PEEP in pressure- and volume-controlled ventilation. ⋯ Inverse ratio ventilation did not result in improved FRC in comparison to conventional volume-controlled PEEP ventilation. PCIRV allows for a reduction in minute ventilation but the increase in mean airway pressure compromises circulation.
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Acta Anaesthesiol Scand · Jan 1997
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical TrialPharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of controlled-release opioids.
While pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic relationships for opioids have not been consistently demonstrable or sufficiently predictive, there remain compelling reasons to pursue such relationships. Among the reasons for pursuing pharmacokinetic/ pharmacodynamic relationships is the prospect of predicting the time-action characteristics of new therapeutics on the basis of early studies in normals using pharmacodynamic surrogates for analgesia. The realization of such a model could improve the efficiency of development of analgesics. ⋯ Concurrent assessments included vital signs and opioid effect VAS questionnaires. The studies demonstrated significant relationships between plasma oxycodone (but not oxymorphone) and pharmacodynamic surrogates (particularly VAS "drug effect") and were predictive of the 12-hour duration of pain control and prompt onset of analgesia subsequently demonstrated in multiple clinical studies involving patients with various pathological pain syndromes. The results suggest that investigators can make earlier, accurate predictions of opioid analgesic pharmacodynamics in patients based on pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic studies in normal volunteers.