Safety and effectiveness of transdermal buprenorphine in cancer pain: An observational study in Taiwan (SOOTHE)

Aim Buprenorphine is one of the strongest opioids used for the relief of cancer pain. This study aims to evaluate the real‐world clinical experiences of transdermal buprenorphine used in moderate to severe cancer pain in the Asian population. Methods This is an open‐labeled, multicenter, 4‐week observational study. Stable cancer pain patients who decided to switch the previous opioid to transdermal buprenorphine will be enrolled in this study. The safety and effectiveness were observed and collected. Pain assessment was performed using a numerical rating scale by the investigators and the Brief Pain Inventory Short Form (BPI‐SF) by the patient. The safety profiles included concomitant medications and adverse events (AEs). Results A total of 83 patients were enrolled in this study. The global pain scores in the BPI, as well as the four individual pain parameters (worst, least, average, and right now), showed a continued decrease (p