Fentanyl et accès douloureux paroxystiques chez les patients souffrant de cancer

During the past ten years, fentanyl has been prescribed for the treatment of breakthrough cancer pains (BTPc). The definition of this type of pain and the necessity for a specific pain killer drug is now clear. The new fentanyl formulations seem adequate to this pain. In this article, we present the new nasal formulations and the studies related to the French Authorities approval. One multiple-crossover, double-blind study has compared the intranasal fentanyl spray with oral immediate release morphine. The results have shown a statistical difference in favour of the intranasal form, but neither the French Authorities nor the European Association for Palliative Care could conclude that one form offers overall clinical global benefit over the others.