In good news for cancer patients at the end of life,  the Food and Drug Administration has approved a concentrated liquid morphine to relieve acute and chronic pain in patients where other opiates are no longer working.

Although concentrated doses of liquid morphine have used to manage pain for opiate-tolerant patients for some time, the oral concentrated dose was not FDA approved.

The FDA has worked with Roxane Laboratories, the only manufacturer of the 20mg/mL formulation, to be sure that adequate supplies are available to patients in need.  Read the rest of this entry »

This week we have research reports about risk of complications after hand-assisted laparoscopic colectomies, the benefit of music therapy during hospice treatment, and a gene that predicts better response to cetuximab.

In other headlines, we found an excellent overview of the progress made in colorectal cancer treatment with data and references.  In addition, there is information about management of colonoscopy sedation in HIV patients receiving antiretroviral medicines and a lifting of the FDA ban on concentrated liquid morphine for terminally ill patients until an acceptable substitute can be found. Read the rest of this entry »