title: Opioid switching in patients with advanced cancer followed at home. A retrospective analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Opioid switching has been found to improve opioid responsiveness in different conditions. However, data on opioid switching performed at home are almost nonexistent, despite the fact that most patients are followed at home.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this retrospective survey was to determine frequency, indications, usefulness, and safety of opioid switching when treating advanced cancer-related pain in patients followed at home.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective review of data from patients with advanced cancer followed at home by three home care teams for a period of two years was performed. Patients who had their opioids switched were selected. Reasons for switching opioid doses and routes of administration and outcomes were collected.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Two hundred one (17%) of 1141 patients receiving "strong" opioids were switched. The mean Karnofsky Performance Status score was 35.6, and the median survival was 30 days. The most frequent reason to switch was for convenience, and the most frequent switch was to parenteral morphine. In most patients, a better analgesic response was observed. Patients who were switched to parenteral morphine had a shorter survival in comparison with other opioid sequences (P<0.0005). After switching, opioid doses were increased by 23% and 41%, after a week and at time of death, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Opioid switching was useful for most patients in the home environment, at least in less complex circumstances, when done by experienced home care teams. Prospective studies are needed to provide information about the decision to admit to hospital for this purpose and the predictive factors that may relatively contraindicate transportation to a facility in severely ill patients.
authors.affiliation: Pain Relief and Palliative Care Unit, La Maddalena Cancer Center, Palermo, Italy. terapiadeldolore@lamaddalenanet.it
authors.forename: Sebastiano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mercadante
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Valle
authors.forename: Giampiero
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Porzio
authors.forename: Flavio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fusco
authors.forename: Federica
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Aielli
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Adile
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Casuccio
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000701:Analgesics, Opioid / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D015984:Causality; D015897:Comorbidity; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D057915:Drug Substitution / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006699:Home Care Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality*; D010146:Pain / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality*; D015995:Prevalence; D011788:Quality of Life; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016019:Survival Analysis; D015996:Survival Rate; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000701:Analgesics, Opioid