Drug infusors in palliative medicine: a Swedish inquiry

The use of drug infusors is common in palliative care. Knowledge about the drugs being used and the handling of drug mixtures in insufficient and poorly documented. To clarify this practice, a questionnaire was sent to all departments of pain/anesthesiology and oncology, and to all home-care teams and palliative care units/hospices in Sweden (N = 156). The questions concerned specific qualities of the drug infusors and the different drugs and drug mixtures used by subcutaneous (s.c.) and intravenous (i.v.) administration. A total of 110 (70%) of the questionnaires were returned. A majority of the respondents reported the use of one or more of three different infusors. Morphine was used in 73% of all single drug infusions. Dosages ranged from 30 mg/24 hr to 5000 mg/24 hr. The most common drug mixture was morphine/haloperidol (22% of all drug mixtures). As many as three drugs were used in combination. The most frequent indication to switch from oral administration to parenteral administration was gastrointestinal disorders such as swallowing difficulties, nausea, vomiting, or bowel obstruction. In Sweden, there is extensive clinical experience administering opioids in infusors, but experience varies for different drug mixtures. There are few clinical and pharmacological investigations to support this practice and further studies are needed.