Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the clinical efficacy of tapentadol extended-release (ER) on pain control and the quality of life (QoL) of patients with moderate to severe chronic cancer pain in clinical practice in Korea.
Methods: In this prospective, open-label, multicenter trial, patients with sustained cancer pain as well as chronic pain, who were or were not using other analgesics were enrolled. Thirteen centers recorded a total of 752 patients during the 6-month observation period, based on the tapentadol ER dose and tolerability, prior and concomitant analgesic treatment, pain intensity, type of pain, adverse effects, and clinical global impression change (CGI-C). Of those 752 patients, 688 were enrolled, and 650 completed the study for efficacy and adverse drug reactions; among them, 349 were cancer patients.
Results: Tapentadol ER significantly reduced the mean pain intensity including neuropathic pain during the observation period by 2.9 points (from a mean 7 ± 0.87 to 4.1 ± 2.02). Furthermore, QoL was observed to be significantly improved based on the CGI-C, an objective measure.
Conclusion: This study showed that tapentadol ER was effective for treating patients with moderate to severe cancer pain and neuropathic pain, and therefore it significantly improved the patients' QoL.
Keywords: Cancer pain; Chronic pain; Korean; Real-world data; Tapentadol.
© 2022. The Author(s).