Tanaka, K., Shima, Y., Kakinuma, R., Kubota, K., Ohe, Y., Hojo, F., . . . Nishiwaka, Y. (1999). Effect of nebulized morphine in cancer patients with dyspnea: a pilot study. Japanese Journal of Clinical Oncology, 29, 600–603.
To test the theory that the local benefit of opioids is related to opioid binding sites in peripheral bronchus.
Patients were given 20 mg of morphine dissolved in 5 mL of normal saline administered through an ultranebulizer. If no subjective relief resulted, the dose was increased to 40 mg and was tried again after four hours.
Inpatient hospital in Japan
This was a pilot, open-label, nonrandomized, uncontrolled study.
Significant decrease occurred in VAS after nebulization (p = 0.005). Eight of 15 patients evaluated treatment effective and requested continuation. No significant change occurred in RR or oxygenation. A not statistically significance tendency was found for patients on systemic opioids to benefit more compared to nonopioid patients.