New Rochelle, NY, September 9, 2010 — Patients who choose to spend their last days at home with specialized care and monitoring can safely be given opioids to control pain and other symptoms without reducing survival time, according to a study published in Journal of Palliative Medicine (JPM), a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.(www.liebertpub.com). The article is available free online at www.liebertpub.com/jpm
The use of high-dose opioids to relieve symptoms such as pain and shortness of breath in hospital- or hospice-based end-of-life care is proven to be effective but is available in only a few countries in the world. Many physicians around the world are afraid to prescribe opioids in sufficient doses to be effective in terminally ill patients in the home setting. Consequently, it is important that Itxaso Bengoechea, MD and colleagues from Galdakao-Usánsolo Hospital in Bizkaia, Spain, conducted a retrospective study on the safety and survival effects of increasing doses of opioids during end-of-life care at home. The study included 223 patients with terminal cancer who received specialized medical and nursing care and active monitoring in their homes.
The authors report that opioid use is both safe and effective and, in fact, patients who received a greater than two-fold increase in their initial dose had a longer median survival (22 days) than those who received lower doses (9 days). In the article entitled “Opioid Use at the End of Life and Survival in a Hospital at Home Unit,” the authors conclude that opioid use in the home setting did not have a negative effect on patient survival time.
“Many worry that use of opioids in end-of-life care tacitly hastens death. Reassuringly, the results of this study show that higher doses were safe in the home and linked to longer survival,” says Charles F. von Gunten, MD, PhD, Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Palliative Medicine and Provost, Institute for Palliative Medicine at San Diego Hospice.
Journal of Palliative Medicine is the Official Journal of the Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC) and the Australian and New Zealand Society of Palliative Medicine (ANZSPM), and an Official Journal of the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association (HPNA). JPM is a monthly, interdisciplinary journal published in print and online that reports on the clinical, educational, legal, and ethical aspects of care for seriously ill and dying patients. The Journal includes coverage of the latest developments in drug and non-drug treatments for patients with life-threatening diseases including cancer, AIDS, cardiac disease, pulmonary, neurologic, respiratory conditions, and other diseases. The Journal reports on the development of palliative care programs around the United States and the world, and on innovations in palliative care education. Tables of content and a free sample issue may be viewed online (www.liebertpub.com/jpm).
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. (www.liebertpub.com) is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including AIDS Patient Care and STDs, Population Health Management, and Briefings in Palliative, Hospice, and Pain Medicine & Management, a weekly e-News Alert.. Its biotechnology trade magazine, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN), was the first in its field and is today the industry’s most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm’s 60 journals, newsmagazines, and books is available at www.liebertpub.com
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. 140 Huguenot St., New Rochelle, NY 10801-5215
Phone: (914) 740-2100 (800) M-LIEBERT Fax: (914) 740-2101
www.liebertpub.com
