[An attitude survey on the medical use of narcotics for cancer pain relief].

Narcotic medications are the major drug therapy for cancer pain relief. A clinical use of fentanyl patches and oxycodone extended-release tablets has recently become available, which led to more choices of narcotics to be used medically. On the other hand, palliative care systems have not yet been fully established by medical institutions. The management of symptoms including pain, therefore, actually has to be performed by "care doctors" involved in cancer care. We conducted a survey on the medical use of narcotics for 500 people, including cancer patients and their family members. The result showed that the recognition rate of morphine used for cancer pain relief was 88%, while the recognition rate of narcotics for medical use other than morphine available for cancer pain relief was 20%. The most acceptable dosage form of narcotics was a skin patch, followed by an oral preparation. A response percentage that the dosage form of medical narcotics should be selectable by users was 93%.