Chronic painful
wounds, a major health problem, have a detrimental impact on the quality of life due to associated
pain. Some clinical reports have suggested that local administration of
morphine could be beneficial. The aim of this study was to evaluate the
analgesic effect of topically applied
morphine on chronic painful
leg ulcers. Twenty-one patients were randomly assigned to receive either
morphine or placebo in a randomised, placebo-controlled, crossover pilot study. Each patient was treated four times in total.
Pain was measured by the visual analogue score (VAS) before application of gel, directly after and after 2, 6, 12 and 24 hours. Although an overall, clinically relevant, reduction of
pain was observed upon treatment with
morphine, the difference was not statistically significant.
Morphine reduced
pain scores more than placebo on treatment occasions 1 and 2. The difference was statistically significant only 2 hours after dressing on the first treatment occasion. Thus, our study did not demonstrate a consistent and globally significant difference in nociception in patients treated with
morphine. However, the relatively small number of patients included in our study and other methodological limitations makes it difficult for us to draw general conclusions regarding efficacy of topically applied
morphine as an effective treatment for some painful
ulcers. Further studies are warranted to evaluate the value of topically applied
morphine in the treatment of patients with chronic painful
leg ulcers.