Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Click here to sign up for SAGE Journal Email Alerts today!

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
Palliative Medicine
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Takahashi, M.
Right arrow Articles by Yamamuro, M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Takahashi, M.
Right arrow Articles by Yamamuro, M.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

The oral-to-intravenous equianalgesic ratio of morphine based on plasma concentrations of morphine and metabolites in advanced cancer patients receiving chronic morphine treatment

Masahiko Takahashi

Takeshi Ohara

Hiroyuki Yamanaka

Akira Shimada

Toshimichi Nakaho

Makoto Yamamuro

Division of Pain Control, Department of Anesthesiology and Emergency Medicine, Tohoku University Postgraduate Medical School, Sendai, Japan

To provide additional pharmacokinetic evidence for the oral-to-parenteral relative potency ratio of 1:2 to 1:3 for chronic morphine use in a palliative care setting, we determined the plasma concentrations of morphine and its major metabolites, morphine-3-glucuronide (M3G) and morphine-6-glucuronide (M6G), in hospitalized advanced cancer patients maintained on long-term oral or intravenous morphine. There were significant linear correlations between daily doses of morphine and plasma concentrations (molar base) of morphine, M3G and M6G for both routes of administration. The oral-to-intravenous relative ratios of the regression coefficients were 2.9 for morphine and 1.8 for morphine» / M6G. The morphine kinetic variables were not significantly influenced by any hepato-renal biochemical markers. These results support the commonly used oral-to-intravenous relative potency ratio of 1:2 to 1:3 in patients with cancer pain receiving chronic morphine treatment.

Key Words: morphine pharmacokinetics • oral/intravenous relative potency ratios for morphine

Palliative Medicine, Vol. 17, No. 8, 673-678 (2003)
DOI: 10.1191/0269216303pm824oa
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 The Annals of PharmacotherapyHome page
A. E Patanwala, J. Duby, D. Waters, and B. L Erstad
Opioid Conversions in Acute Care
Ann. Pharmacother., February 1, 2007; 41(2): 255 - 266.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Anesth. Analg.Home page
T. Ohara, T. Itoh, and M. Takahashi
Immunosuppression by Morphine-Induced Lymphocyte Apoptosis: Is It a Real Issue?
Anesth. Analg., October 1, 2005; 101(4): 1117 - 1122.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]