抄録
Pain is one of the most common uncomfortable symptoms for patients with cancer in which pain worsens as the cancer progresses. So far oral morphine has mostly been used for pain management of patients with oral and maxillofacial cancer. However, there have been many cases in which oral morphine could not be given for progression of cancer, because the administration pathway of oral agent was the same as the diseased area. The transdermal Fentanyl patch is useful for such patients.
We applied Fentanyl patches to 14 patients with advanced cancer at our Department from Oct. 2001 to Nov. 2002. All cases received as much relief from pain as those to whom oral morphine was administered without any remarkable side effects. Fentanyl patches are thus considered useful for improveing pain management of patients with progressive oral and maxillofacial cancer.
