04 Dec Fentanyl for Pain: Intranasal Use in the Out-of-Hospital Setting

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Morten Sejer Hansen
Department of Anaesthesia 4231
Centre of Head and Orthopaedics, Rigshospitalet
Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark

MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?

Answer: Out-of-hospital administration of intranasal fentanyl in doses of 50 and 100 microgram appears to be safe and well tolerated, with a low incidence of side effects

Secondly, intranasal fentanyl appeared effective in a wide range of patients, although no firm conclusions on analgesic efficacy can be provided due to the lack of a placebo control.
MedicalResearch.com: Were any of the findings unexpected?

Answer: The low frequency of side effects, with no serious adverse events, was an uplifting result, considering the ambiguous safety profile provided by earlier studies where the frequency of adverse events varied from 3.3% to 39%. Likewise the applicability of intranasal fentanyl in the pediatric (age > 8 years and/or weight >30 kg) out-of-hospital population

MedicalResearch.com: What should clinicians and patients take away from your report?

Answer: Intranasal fentanyl appears to be a safe and well-tolerated out-of-hospital analgesic in a wide range of patients.

MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study?

Answer: Future studies are needed in order to establish a safety profile for rare adverse events. Furthermore, in order to validate the analgesic efficacy of intranasal fentanyl as an out-of-hospital analgesic, future placebo controlled randomized trials are needed.

Citation:

Safety of Intranasal Fentanyl in the Out-of-Hospital Setting: A Prospective Observational Study

Anders P.H. Karlsen, Danny M.B. Pedersen, Sven Trautner, Jørgen B. Dahl, Morten S. Hansen

Annals of Emergency Medicine – 25 November 2013 (10.1016/j.annemergmed.2013.10.025)

Last Updated on December 5, 2013 by Marie Benz MD FAAD