More than 250,000 terminal cancer patients each year take opioids, such as morphine, for pain relief. About half of those patients experience severe constipation. The discomfort can be so great that many patients choose to forego the pain relief in order to avoid the constipation.
Methylnaltrexone, a new compound designed to reverse one of the most troubling problems caused by opium-based analgesics without interfering with pain relief, is rapidly effective at low doses with no apparent side effects report researchers from the University of Chicago Medical Center.