Methadone safe in cancer patients with pain.

• Printer-friendly version
• Send to friend
• PDF version
• Share

	Dr Andrew Byrne & Associates articles by this author...
A Harm-Minimisation Research Perspective: Dr Byrne (and his associates) advocate for better policies which are proven to reduce risks for drug users and the general community, under a framework in parallel with Australia’s official policy of harm minimisation.

The Effect of Oral Methadone on the QTc Interval in Advanced Cancer Patients: A Prospective Pilot Study. Reddy S, Hui D, El Osta B, de la Cruz M, Walker M, Palmer JL, Bruera E. Journal of Palliative Medicine, October 13, 2009 E-pub ahead.

open this article full screen

Dear Colleagues,

These authors have done a great service by following serial ECGs prospectively on 100 patients who were being considered for methadone treatment for advanced cancer pain.
ECG was ordered at baseline, 2, 4 and 8 weeks.
Due to altered medication, hospice transfers, community discharges and one death (non-cardiac) in this palliative patient population the follow up results were available for 64, 41, and 27 patients at 2, 4 and 8 weeks.

 The most interesting and unexpected finding of this study was that even before starting the medication, over a quarter of patients (28%) had QT prolongation (>430 ms in males; >450 ms in females).
The doses of methadone were relatively low compared to the dose levels used for addiction (median at 2 weeks 23mg daily and maximum was 90mg daily).

The results showed that the QT prolonging effects were modest and largely not clinically significant. There was only one ECG in one single patient where QTc increased beyond 500ms (1.6%).
This was asymptomatic and not associated with any tachycardia episode. Furthermore, that patient’s prolonged QT resolved spontaneously in subsequent ECG tracings.

 The authors state that their findings support the safety of methadone for pain control in their subjects. This should give doctors and patients confidence that methadone is still a safe and effective analgesic and that concerns regarding cardiac side effects may have been exaggerated out of keeping with the literature.
When I contacted the study’s author I was told that they had seen no cases of torsade tachycardia in relation to methadone treatment at the MD Anderson Cancer Center to date.

Comments by Andrew Byrne ..

Concord Seminar blog: http://www.redfernclinic.com/concord/

Clinic web page: http://www.redfernclinic.com/c/