Journal of pain & palliative care pharmacotherapy
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J Pain Palliat Care Pharmacother · Jan 2007
Pain, opioids, and addiction: an urgent problem for doctors and patients.
In March 2007, the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) conducted a meeting on opioid prescribing, chronic pain and prescription drug abuse in collaboration with the American Medical Association. The meeting was held on the NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland. This report summarizes major presentations presented at the meeting.
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J Pain Palliat Care Pharmacother · Jan 2006
Review Case ReportsIntranasal sphenopalatine ganglion block: minimally invasive pharmacotherapy for refractory facial and headache pain.
Facial pain and headache of various etiologies are oftentimes unresponsive to conventional therapies. Transnasal sphenopalatine gangion block provides a safe, low-cost, therapy that, if effective, oftentimes can be self-administered for pain relief.
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J Pain Palliat Care Pharmacother · Jan 2006
ReviewDexmedetomidine: a novel analgesic with palliative medicine potential.
Dexmedetomidine has gained popularity in anesthesia and critical care for use in deep sedation and analgesia due to a combination of its efficacy and safety compared with other available agents (e.g., opioids, benzodiazepines, propofol) conventionally used in these settings. This brief review is meant to introduce this unique agent to the palliative care field, as dexmedetomidine may hold promise for patients in hospice and palliative care settings whose symptoms are refractory to usual therapies. [Be sure to be clear in the abstract that more studies are warranted and its role is not well defined and is complicated by significant drug interactions, invasive i.v. route and has a significant side effect profile.]