Consideration of Opioid Induction Appropriate Cases for Cancer Pain Using Fentos® Tape 0.5 mg

Reports of opioid induction with Fentos ® tape (FT) 0.5 mg potency are limited and the appropriate patient-selec-tion-method isn't clear. We report on a retrospective study of the efficacy and safety of opioid induction at FT0.5 mg in our hospital. Patients with cancer who started FT1 mg as a half pasting (0.5 mg potency) during one year from February 2018 to January 2019 and who started FT0.5 mg during one year from February 2019 to January 2020 (Period B) were included in the study. In this study, appropriate cases were defined as those that could be continued for more than 3 days at FT0.5 mg and the number of opioid rescues was < 2 per day. A total of 49 applicable patients in both periods were included, of which 78 ％ (38/49) used FT for opioid induction. In Period B, 30 patients used FT 0.5 mg for opioid induction. Among them, 20 patients were able to continue using the tape for more than 3 days and had opioid rescues < 2 per day. Therefore 67 ％ (20/30) were appropriate cases. The age of appropriate cases was significantly younger (late 70s) than that of inappropriate cases ( P = 0.029). Adverse events occurred in 23 ％ (7/30) of cases, none of which were serious. The induction of opioids in the FT0.5 mg potency was safe with no serious adverse events. However, in terms of efficacy, opioid induction at FT may not be appropriate for patients over 80 years old, and careful patient selection is required.