Workshop Manual - Faculty of pain medicine - Australian and New ...

Appendix 5: Using Morphine for Cancer Pain
The most important drug for managing cancer pain is morphine.
Acute severe pain may need to be controlled with morphine injections
but this should be changed to oral morphine as soon as the pain is
under control.
The oral morphine dose is 2-3 times the injected dose.
Steps for controlling pain with morphine:
1. Control severe pain quickly with injections or fast release oral
morphine. Give 4-hourly as needed.
2. Work out morphine requirement per 24 hours.
e.g.: Patient needing 10 mg IM morphine every 4 hours
IM morphine requirement per day = 6 x 10 mg = 60 mg
Equivalent oral morphine dose is 2-3 times (120-180 mg)
3. Halve the total daily oral dose and give as slow release morphine
twice daily.
e.g.: Total daily oral dose = 120-180 mg
Start with slow release morphine 60 mg PO BD
Increase to 90 mg PO BD as needed
4. Continue to give extra fast release morphine 4-hourly if needed for
“breakthrough pain”. If frequent extra doses are needed, work out
total daily dose and increase slow morphine dose.
APPENDIX 5
56 ESSENTIAL PAIN MANAGEMENT