Role of Oxycodone Hydrochloride in Treating Radiotherapy-Related Pain

Table 1

Studies evaluating the analgesic efficacy of oxycodone hydrochloride in treating radiotherapy-related pain.

Study	Type of cancer	Sample size	Dose of oxycodone	Radiation dose	Administration time	Main outcomes	Side effects
Hu et al. [36]	Bone metastasis	47	20 mg, 40 mg, 60 mg	10–40 Gy	Administrated a week before radiotherapy until the fifth week of radiotherapy ended	The remission rate was 97.9% until the fifth week ended. The KPS score was increased by ≥20 in 23 patients (48.9%) and 10–20 in 17 patients (36.2%) when the treatment concluded	There were local responses to radiotherapy and adverse drug reactions, which were all relieved by symptomatic treatment
Yi [17]	Metastases of bone	Oxycodone alone (21): combined radiotherapy with oxycodone (21)	10 mg	NA	Administrated 3–7 days before radiotherapy till the sixth week of radiotherapy ended	The pain relief rate in the combined group was significantly higher than that in the oxycodone alone group in the 6th week of radiotherapy (95.1% vs. 71.4%, )	No significant difference was found between the two groups (23.8% vs. 28.5%, )
Yu et al. [37]	Nasopharyngeal carcinoma	Oxycodone group (34) and fentanyl group (32)	∼10 mg	70∼75 Gy	Administrated when the VAS score reached 4 or more in patients affected by radiation-induced oral mucositis	The analgesic effect in the oxycodone group was significantly better than that in the fentanyl group during 5th to 7th weeks of radiotherapy (VAS in 7th week of radiotherapy: 3.59 ± 0.28 vs. 4.42 ± 0.33, )	The incidence of adverse reactions (constipation, nausea, vomiting, and dizziness) was not statistically significant between the two groups ()
Huang and Zheng [26]	Nasopharyngeal carcinoma	102	∼10 mg	68∼70 Gy	Administered in the 2nd and 3rd week of radiotherapy	In the group given oxycodone for mild pain, the outcomes were more beneficial in terms of VAS score and QOL score compared with those treated for severe pain	The incidence of adverse reactions in the group treated with oxycodone for mild pain was significantly less than that in the group treated for severe pain ()
Lin and Wang [38]	Cancer patients affected by radiation-induced oral mucositis	Conventional therapy (30) and oxycodone combined with conventional therapy (30)	∼5 mg	NA	Administered when the pain from radiation-induced oral mucositis reached a moderate level	After adding oxycodone hydrochloride to conventional therapy, the pain from radiation-induced oral mucositis was effectively controlled (96.7% vs. 33.4%) and significantly improved patient eating (83.4% vs. 33.4%, )	—
Wu et al. [39]	Nasopharyngeal carcinoma	Conventional therapy (28) and oxycodone combined with conventional therapy (28)	∼5 mg	66∼70 Gy	Administered when the VAS score reached 4 or more in the 3rd week of radiotherapy	After adding oxycodone hydrochloride to conventional treatment, pain relief rate was significantly increased compared to the conventional therapy (92.8% vs. 32.1%, )	The adverse reactions can be relieved by symptomatic treatment. There were no withdrawal symptoms when medication was discontinued
Hisamitsu et al. [40]	Head and neck cancer	Mild pain (23) and moderate pain (20)	16.1 ± 0.8 mg vs 31.4 ± 4.4 mg	60 Gy	Administered when the pain reached a mild or moderate level	Between a cumulative dose of 25 and 50 Gy, opioid was introduced for pain control at a significantly; Lower VAS in the mild pain group than the moderate pain group	No significant difference was found between the two groups ()
Cai and Liu [41]	Nasopharyngeal carcinoma	Moderate pain (11) and severe pain (24)	20–60 mg every 12 h	NA	Administered from the preparation period to the 2nd week of radiotherapy	The pain relief rate of both groups was 100%	The adverse reactions were relieved by symptomatic treatment

NA: not applicable; —: not mentioned.