© 2002 Thorax
EDITORIAL
Dyspnoea
Opioids for dyspnoea
Department of Respiratory Medicine, Leeds General Infirmary, Leeds LS1 3EX, UK; martin.muers@leedsth.nhs.uk
Opioids have a role in the treatment of severe dyspnoea, but careful monitoring of their effects is essential.
Keywords: opioids; dyspnoea; palliation
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
To understand, define, and treat dyspnoea is difficult. It is an underappreciated problem in respiratory medicine, cardiology, and palliative medicine, and it is often hard to know when to supplement the treatment of an underlying disease by pure palliation. In this issue of Thorax Jennings et al1 present a meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials of opioids as treatment for dyspnoea, which shows that opioids do reduce dyspnoea in a variety of settings, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and cancer. What inferences for clinical practice in primary care, secondary care, or specialist palliative care can be drawn from this finding? And what impact ought it to have?
Dyspnoea is a perception, and perceptions are affected by more than physiological variables. Although simple statements such as "dyspnoea is an uncomfortable sensation of breathing"2 may suffice as a shorthand definition of dyspnoea, the American Thoracic Society has suggested the following broader
CiteULike 
Complore 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Reddit 
Technorati What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
-
Kvale, P. A., Selecky, P. A., Prakash, U. B. S.
(2007). Palliative Care in Lung Cancer: ACCP Evidence-Based Clinical Practice Guidelines (2nd Edition). Chest
132: 368S-403S
[Abstract] [Full Text] -
Allen, S., Raut, S., Woollard, J., Vassallo, M.
(2005). Low dose diamorphine reduces breathlessness without causing a fall in oxygen saturation in elderly patients with end-stage idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Palliat Med
19: 128-130
[Abstract]
- Full Text
- Full Text (PDF)
- Alert me when this article is cited
- Alert me if a correction is posted
- Citation Map
Services
- Email this link to a friend
- Similar articles in this journal
- Similar articles in PubMed
- Add article to my folders
- Download to citation manager
- Request Permissions
Citing Articles
Google Scholar
PubMed
Topic Collections
Bookmark with
Register for free content
The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register here to access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.
Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.
