Efficacy and Safety of High-Dose Controlled-Release Oxycodone in the Treatment of Moderate to Severe Pain in Patients with Advanced Cancer: A Retrospective Study.

BACKGROUND Opioid analgesics are used to relieve pain in patients with cancer and can improve their quality of life. This study aimed to investigate the efficacy and tolerability of high-dose (>150 mg/day) controlled-release oxycodone for the control of pain in patients with advanced solid malignant tumors. MATERIAL AND METHODS A retrospective clinical study was undertaken to include patients with advanced cancer treated at the Zhejiang Cancer Hospital who had treatment that included high-dose controlled-release oxycodone. The subjective numeric rating scale (NRS) for assessment of pain intensity (scores between 0-10) was used in all cases. RESULTS The study included 131 patients with advanced solid tumors with moderate to severe cancer pain. The mean NRS score before commencing high-dose controlled-release oxycodone was 7.10. The effective rate of relief pain was achieved in 90.1% (118/131) of patients, with an average effective dose of controlled-release oxycodone of 177.18±11.71 mg/day, resulting in a mean NRS of 2.15. There were 51 patients who achieved pain relief with mean treatment duration of 49.98±11.71 days. Combination therapy was required in 79 patients. Additional drugs included gabapentin (43 patients), pregabalin (10 patients) and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) (26 patients). The main side effects of high-dose controlled-release oxycodone included constipation, nausea, vomiting, dysuria, dizziness, and drowsiness, but no patients discontinued treatment because of these. CONCLUSIONS This study showed that high-dose controlled-release oxycodone could effectively relieve moderate to severe cancer pain, without side effects that were severe enough to result in discontinuation of treatment.