Long-term epidural pain relief using a totally implantable access system

The majority of cancer patients at the terminal stage experience pain as a major symptom, and less than 60% of patients receive adequate pain relief. To relieve this symptom we have placed epidural catheters and attached them to an implantable access system. On this method the patients required 0.4–3.5 mg of morphine per hour with occasional boluses. Catheter life span ranged from 15 to 157 days with an average of 57 days.