What are the therapeutic alternatives to dextropropoxyphene in France? A prescribers' survey.

F Aubrun (1, 2) , E Chrétien (1, 2) , L Letrilliart (1) , M Ginoux (3) , M Belhassen (3) , M Lanteri-Minet (4) , E. van Ganse (5) , H Beloeil (6)

1 UCBL - Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1
2 Hôpital de la Croix-Rousse [CHU - HCL]
3 Evaluation et modélisation des effets thérapeutiques
4 Neuro-Dol - Neuro-Dol
5 LBBE - Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive - UMR 5558
6 CHU Pontchaillou [Rennes]

About a year after dextropropoxyphene (DXP) withdrawal from the French market, we conducted a survey among members of the French Society of Anesthesia & Intensive Care Medicine (Sfar) and of the French Society of the Study and Treatment of Pain (SFETD) to identify the indications for which this WHO level II analgesic had been prescribed, the prescriber's feedback following withdrawal, and the substitutive analgesics prescribed. DXP had been prescribed by more than 75% of the 430 anaesthesiologists and 230 pain specialists interviewed, mainly for acute and chronic non-cancer pain of moderate intensity. While two thirds of pain specialists were not satisfied with DXP withdrawal, this decision did not affect the majority of anaesthesiologists. In both groups, the main substitutive analgesic was tramadol combined with acetaminophen, while only 24% of prescribers considered acetaminophen alone as a substitute.

Keywords: dextropropoxyphène; Pain; treatment

Domains: Life Sciences [q-bio]; Pharmaceutical sciences; Pharmacology

F Aubrun, E Chrétien, L Letrilliart, M Ginoux, M Belhassen, et al.. What are the therapeutic alternatives to dextropropoxyphene in France? A prescribers' survey.. Anaesthesia Critical Care & Pain Medicine, 2017, 36 (1), pp.15-19. ⟨10.1016/j.accpm.2016.01.007⟩. ⟨hal-01558315⟩