title: Fentanyl for episodic dyspnoea in cancer patients.
abstract: Two different patterns of breathlessness have been identified: chronic or continuous breathlessness and breathlessness crisis (acute, incident, episodic, breakthrough breathlessness). Meta-analysis and systematic reviews prove that opioids are beneficial in either opioid-naïve or -tolerant patients. However, data from two recent randomised controlled trials were not able to show the effectiveness of fentanyl for the relief of exertion-induced dyspnoea.
authors.affiliation: PO Box 10521, SC Tenerife, Spain. mabenros@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Miguel Angel
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Benítez-Rosario
keywords: Fentanyl; advanced cancer; dyspnoea; opioids; palliative care