Dear Editor:Most individuals with cancer pain respond to morphine. However, a significant minority will either fail to have pain relief or will develop dose-limiting toxicity.1 One of the strategies for managing opioid poorly responsive pain and opioid side effects is to switch opioids. Opioid switches may also be appropriate if a route switch is necessary and the initial opioid (such as oxycodone) is not available parenteral or a switch is needed for reasons of cost. Equianalgesic tables are used as a guide for opioid switches. Opioid equivalents are published ratios of opioid doses which produce the same degree of analgesia. Equianalgesic tables are usually standardized to 10 mg of parenteral morphine.
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