Articles: analgesics.
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Narcotics are used in neuro-anesthesiology according to their pharmacology and their effects on cerebral physiology. New narcotics (fentanyl, sufentanil, alfentanil) fulfill the requirements of modern neurosurgical anesthesiology looking for quick awakening.
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Cahiers d'anesthésiologie · Jan 1991
Review[Secondary effects of opioids administered by the regional route].
The administration of narcotics in the subarachnoid or the epidural space is gaining acceptance for postoperative pain relief. However, the potential side effects of intrathecal and epidural use of opioids are the following: early and late respiratory depression, pruritus, nausea and vomiting, urinary retention. ⋯ Naloxone can be used to reverse the depression. Pruritus can occur in 10 to 30% of patients receiving morphine; 10 to 30% nausea and vomiting, and urinary retention occurs in 20 to 50% of patients.
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Each class (mu, delta kappa and epsilon) of opioid receptors has a characteristic pattern of distribution in the nervous system, which may, however, exhibit species differences. The effects of opioid receptor stimulation depend on the class of receptor involved, the localization of these specific receptors and the animal species under investigation. Endogenous ligands of opioid receptors, which include more than twenty peptides, derive from three precursors:proopiomelanocortin (beta-endorphin), proenkephalin A (enkephalins) and prodynorphin (dynorphins, neo-endorphins). ⋯ At this level, opioids reduce the activity of spinal neurones that convey the nociceptive messages. The classes of opioid receptors (certainly mu [mu 2?] and a, perhaps kappa) involved in this effect, and their pre- or postsynaptic location are not firmly established to date. Further developments on these points can be expected from the use of new ligands which are highly selective of the various classes of opioid receptors.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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Morphine consumption for medical purposes in Japan showed a 17-fold increase between 1979 and 1989, due to increased use in cancer pain management. This increase is a reflection of the improving attitude of the health care professionals and health policy makers towards narcotics use. The WHO Cancer Pain Relief Programme has ultimately become the basis for a national cancer pain relief programme. The Ministry of Health and Welfare amended the Narcotics and Psychotropics Control Law in 1990, to improve accessibility of morphine preparations to cancer patients with pain, and edited four manuals for palliative care, that include guidelines on cancer pain relief, and legislative management of narcotics use in hospital, clinic and pharmacy.