Abstract
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BACKGROUND: Disturbed bowel habits are very common in palliative care patients, most commonly thought to be due to opioid use. The peripheral opioid-antagonist methylnaltrexone has been subsidised in Australia to ensure that palliative care patients have timely and equitable access to this medication. The aim of this paper is to describe the use of methylnaltrexone in the first year after it was subsidised for palliative care, in particular focusing on the actual use of this medication compared with predicted need.