Methadone in the management of cancer pain: a review.

Methadone is a synthetic opiate receptor agonist that has been available for more than 40 years. Although its main use has been in the maintenance treatment of opioid addicts, it has excellent analgesic effects and low cost. Its use is limited by its long and unpredictable half-life and by the limited knowledge of the most appropriate method for titration and interval of administration.

Organic hallucinosis in patients receiving high doses of opiates for cancer pain.

We report 4 patients who developed organic hallucinosis while receiving opiate analgesics for cancer pain. In all patients, the symptoms rapidly responded to haloperidol and change in the type of opiate. The hallucinations were exclusively visual.