Palliation of dyspnoea in advanced COPD: revisiting a role for opioids.

Using opioids to treat dyspnea in advanced COPD: attitudes and experiences of family physicians and respiratory therapists.

OBJECTIVE To explore the experiences of family physicians and respiratory therapists in treating advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and their attitudes to the use of opioids for dyspnea in this context. DESIGN Qualitative methodology using one-on-one semistructured interviews. SETTING Southern New Brunswick (St Stephen to Sussex). PARTICIPANTS Ten family physicians and ...

A systematic review of the use of opioids in the management of dyspnoea.

BACKGROUND Opioids are commonly used to treat dyspnoea in palliative medicine but there has been no formal evaluation of the evidence for their effectiveness in the treatment of dyspnoea. A systematic review was therefore carried out to examine this. METHODS The criteria for inclusion required that studies were double blind, randomised, placebo controlled trials of opioids for the treatment o...

Opioids for dyspnoea.

o understand, define, and treat dys-pnoea is difficult. It is an under-appreciated problem in respiratory medicine, cardiology, and palliative medicine, and it is often hard to know when to supplement the treatment of an underlying disease by pure palliation. In this issue of Thorax Jennings et al 1 present a meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials of opioids as treatment for dys-pnoea, w...

Management of refractory breathlessness with morphine in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a progressive, incurable illness, which leads to significant morbidity over long periods of time and mortality. Treatment aims to reduce symptoms, improve exercise capacity and quality of life, reduce exacerbations, slow disease progression and reduce mortality. However, breathlessness is common in patients with advanced COPD and remains undertrea...

Low-dose Gemcitabine and Carboplatin as a Good Palliation for Local Symptoms in Advanced Transitional Cell Carcinoma of Bladder