%0 Journal Article
%T An online survey of Australian physicians reported practice with the off-label use of nebulised frusemide
%A Phillip J Newton
%A Patricia M Davidson
%A Christine Sanderson
%A on behalf of the Improving Palliative Care through Clinical Trials (ImPaCCT) group
%J BMC Palliative Care
%D 2012
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1472-684x-11-6
%X An online survey was emailed to 249 members of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Palliative Medicine to estimate the use of nebulised frusemide for breathlessness by Australian physicians involved in palliative care in the previous 12 months.There were 52/249 (21%) respondents to the survey. The majority (44/52; 85%) had not prescribed nebulised frusemide in the previous 12 months. The most common (18/44; 43%) reason for not prescribing nebulised frusemide was a belief that there was not enough evidence to support its use. Whilst only a few respondents (8/52; 15%) reported having used nebulised frusemide, all that had used it thought there was at least some benefit in relieving breathlessness.This report adds to the series of case studies reporting some benefit from nebulised frusemide in relieving breathlessnes.Off-label prescribing also known as unlabelled or unapproved prescribing occurs when an approved medication is used in a way that is not included or disclaimed in the product information brochure.[1] Off-label use may occur if the agent is prescribed in a dose, route, indication or age group for which the agent is not registered with the appropriate authority. The off-label prescribing of medicines may occur in as many as 20¨C40% of adults [2,3]. The extent to which off-label prescribing is based on good clinical data is also concerning. A recent study of over 150 million off-label prescriptions found that 73% had little if any scientific evidence to support the prescription [2]. Off-label prescribing is more common in some specialties or patient population than others [4]. In the relatively new specialty of palliative care, off-label prescribing occurs commonly because either the dose or the route of administration or pharmacological effects were not included in the original product label [4]. Monitoring these trends is important in documenting practice trends and the need for determining future empirical investigations.Frusemide, a common loop diure
%K Nebulised frusemide
%K Online survey
%K Off-label use
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-684X/11/6