• Boaz G Samolsky Dekel, Sivia Ghedini, Alberto Gori, Alessio Vasarri, GianFranco Di Nino, and Rita M Melotti.
• Department of Medicine and Surgery Sciences, University of Bologna, Via Massarenti n. 9, 40138, Bologna, Italy, boaz.samolskydekel@unibo.it.
• Pain Ther. 2015 Jun 1;4(1):107-17.

IntroductionDespite opioids' recognized role in the treatment of moderate/severe musculoskeletal chronic pain, their long-term benefits need investigation. We explored the lasting analgesic efficacy, tolerability, influence on life quality, and chronicity stage of the novel prolonged release (PR) opioid, tapentadol, in 30 outpatients.MethodsWe evaluated patients' pain intensity and relief (Numerical Rating Scale; NRS), adverse effects, sleep quality, treatment satisfaction, health status (12-questions Health-Survey; SF-12), chronicity stage (Italian Mainz Pain-Staging System; I-MPSS) at 10, 30, 60, and 90 days after tapentadol prescription.ResultsAt follow-ups, the investigated outcomes showed an overall statistically significant (Wilcoxon signed-rank test) improvement and remained stable over time, as did the health status and chronicity stage. Adverse effects were limited, transitory, and tolerable.ConclusionsTwelve weeks of PR tapentadol in outpatients with moderate/severe chronic musculoskeletal pain showed satisfactory analgesic efficacy and tolerability, and had a positive influence on life quality and chronicity stage. The results are robust enough to warrant a subsequent study with a larger sample and a longer observation period.

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