Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology
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Exp Clin Psychopharmacol · Oct 2008
Review Historical ArticleOpioids and the treatment of chronic pain: controversies, current status, and future directions.
Opioids have been regarded for millennia as among the most effective drugs for the treatment of pain. Their use in the management of acute severe pain and chronic pain related to advanced medical illness is considered the standard of care in most of the world. In contrast, the long-term administration of an opioid for the treatment of chronic noncancer pain continues to be controversial. ⋯ The past several decades in the United States have been characterized by attitudes that have shifted repeatedly in response to clinical and epidemiological observations, and events in the legal and regulatory communities. The interface between the legitimate medical use of opioids to provide analgesia and the phenomena associated with abuse and addiction continues to challenge the clinical community, leading to uncertainty about the appropriate role of these drugs in the treatment of pain. This narrative review briefly describes the neurobiology of opioids and then focuses on the complex issues at this interface between analgesia and abuse, including terminology, clinical challenges, and the potential for new agents, such as buprenorphine, to influence practice.
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Exp Clin Psychopharmacol · Oct 2008
Review Case ReportsAddiction to prescription opioids: characteristics of the emerging epidemic and treatment with buprenorphine.
Dependence on and abuse of prescription opioid drugs is now a major health problem, with initiation of prescription opioid abuse exceeding cocaine in young people. Coincident with the emergence of abuse and dependence on prescription opioids, there has been an increased emphasis on the treatment of pain. ⋯ Thus, physicians are whipsawed between the imperative to treat pain with opioids and the fear of producing addiction in some patients. In this article, the authors characterize the emerging epidemic of prescription opioid abuse, discuss the utility of buprenorphine in the treatment of addiction to prescription opioids, and present illustrative case histories of successful treatment with buprenorphine.
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Exp Clin Psychopharmacol · Oct 2008
ReviewAddressing the intersecting problems of opioid misuse and chronic pain treatment.
Misuse of prescription opioid medications has continued as a major public health problem in the United States. Review of major epidemiologic databases shows that the prevalence of opioid misuse rose markedly through the 1990s and the early part of the current decade. ⋯ Analysis of the 2006 National Survey of Drug Use and Health indicates the increasing prevalence of prescription opioid misuse is associated more with an increase in the general availability of these medications than misuse of the medications by those who were directly prescribed them. National Institute on Drug Abuse initiatives to address the prescription opioid problem include programs to stimulate research in the basic and clinical sciences, and to educate physicians and other health personnel.
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Exp Clin Psychopharmacol · Oct 2008
ReviewThe interface between pain and drug abuse and the evolution of strategies to optimize pain management while minimizing drug abuse.
Pain management is facing continued undertreatment of pain despite a growing problem with prescription opioid abuse. This has created a tension among prescribers and feelings of helplessness with regards to what constitutes appropriate practice. This article provides a review of pain management efforts and focuses on two key areas of potential interest. ⋯ Overall, the authors must embrace the concept of rational pain management and assess patients for risk both before writing the first opioid prescription for them and thereafter. In addition, we must remember that good pain management should lead to some decreases in pain perception for the patient combined with a corresponding increase in ability to function. By reviewing these tools and proposed novel guidelines for in/out of the box prescribing and adopting them into practice as appropriate, the physician will take a significant step in providing effective pain management while minimizing risk of opioid misuse.