Pain : Topical Opioids

The use of topical morphine gel is reported in two children with epidermolysis bullosa, where acute inflammatory pain is a major symptom and where effective analgesia is a major clinical problem.

Arch Dis Child. 2004 Jul;89(7):679-81 Peripheral opioids in inflammatory pain.

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Morphine sulfate 10 mg in Intrasite gel was applied topically to skin ulcers of hospice inpatients. The topical morphine was not absorbed in the majority of patients, suggesting any analgesic effect was mediated locally rather than systemically.

J Pain Symptom Manage. 2004 May;27(5):434-9 The bioavailability of morphine applied topically to cutaneous ulcers.

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