Effect of parenteral dezocine and placebo in cancer pain.

A double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover trial was carried out in 20 hospitalized patients with continuous pain due to cancer to assess the analgesic effectiveness and tolerance of a single intramuscular injection of 10 mg dezocine. Subjective assessments of pain, made at hourly intervals over 4 hours, showed that dezocine produces a statistically significant greater and sustained relief of pain than did placebo. Only minor side-effects were reported.