Fentanyl buccal tablet for cancer breakthrough pain

Abstract

Pain is one of the most common symptoms of advanced cancer and has significant adverse effects on patients' functioning and quality of life.¹ A number of studies have established that pain can be controlled in the majority of patients using the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines,² however, even when background pain is well controlled, 70–90 per cent of patients with advanced cancer also experience brief episodes or flares of severe pain, known as breakthrough pain.³ Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.