Morphine vs. Methadone for Cancer Pain

It's still too early for me to blog about aggressive measures to control severe pain in cancer patients, despite my best intentions. I don't know when/if I'll be able to write a proper post on the topic. For now, I'll just list a few references, including a study on the attitudes of pain physicians towards the use of methadone in clinical practice (Shah & Diwan, 2010).


References

Bengoechea I, Gutiérrez SG, Vrotsou K, Onaindia MJ, Lopez JM. (2010). Opioid Use at the End of Life and Survival in a Hospital at Home Unit. J Palliat Med. Aug 28. [Epub ahead of print].

Mercadante S. (2010). Intravenous morphine for management of cancer pain. Lancet Oncol. 11:484-9.

Pollock AB, Tegeler ML, Morgan V, Baumrucker SJ. (2010). Morphine to Methadone Conversion: An Interpretation of Published Data. Am J Hosp Palliat Care. Jun 16. [Epub ahead of print].

Shah S, Diwan S. (2010). Methadone: does stigma play a role as a barrier to treatment of chronic pain? Pain Physician 13:289-93.


NOTE: The frequency and content of future posts will be lighter for a while...