A comparison of the resources used in advanced cancer care between two different strong opioids: an analysis of naturalistic practice in the UK

Abstract

SR morphine and transdermal fentanyl seem to be used in different situations. The results also confirm previous findings that pain management in cancer patients is often sub-optimal. The low contribution of opioids to the overall costs indicates that this should not be an obstacle to starting this aspect of palliative care earlier in disease progression. This characterisation of the resource implications of using SR morphine and transdermal fentanyl should enable purchasers and providers to optimise the availability of strong opioids for cancer patients on medical, economic and humanitarian grounds.

Retrospective studies of end-of-life resource utilization and costs in cancer care using health administrative data: A systematic review

“…In total, 71 studies examined resource utilization alone or in combination with costs, 18–22,26–91 and 7 studies explored costs only. 92…”

Palliative care treatment patterns and associated costs of healthcare resource use for specific advanced cancer patients in the UK

“…Neither does the analysis consider the costs of resources funded by the voluntary and charitable sector. Such resources would include hospice care and specialist nurse visits which we estimate would add a further £5000 and £200, respectively, onto the cost of palliative care (Guest et al . 2005).…”

“…We previously estimated the levels of healthcare resource use and corresponding costs associated with managing a cohort of 999 patients with advanced cancer from the time they were initially treated with either 12‐hourly sustained‐release morphine or transdermal fentanyl up to death (Ruiz et al . 2002; Guest et al . 2005).…”

Sustained‐release oral morphine versus transdermal fentanyl and oral methadone in cancer pain management

“…In a cost analysis model, neither the choice of opioid nor managing constipation impacted substantially on the expected cost (Guest et al, 2005;Mazzoccato et al, 2001). A cost-utility analysis, a concept used by economists as a basis for models of consumer choice in costutility analysis assessing quality-adjusted life days, should provide further information (Neighbors et al, 2001;Asche et al, 2006).…”