Clinical and Theoretical Studies With the Opioid Analgesic Fentanyl

This thesis concerns two investigations into the opioid analgesic fentanyl. The first is a clinical investigation into the safety and efficacy of fentanyl administered by inhalation. The second is a theoretical assessment of the feasibility and merits of applying an alternative form of pharmacokinetic model to the drug. The second project is linked chronologically and conceptually to the first in that it grew out of a general interest in the pharmacology of fentanyl developed during the first study and in that it provides a useful theoretical framework for considering the comparative pharmacokinetics of drug delivered intravenously and drug delivered for absorbtion from other sites. The thesis is in two related but essentially self-contained parts preceded by a brief review of fentanyl pharmacology