Articles: analgesics.
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To answer the questions of mode and site of action partly supplementary, partly new investigations with flupirtine (Katadolon) were carried out which are described below. The investigation for opiate receptor affinity of flupirtine in rat brain homogenate did not show any reduction in 3He-etorphine binding up to the highest concentration of flupirtine of 10(-5) mol/1. This result suggests that flupirtine either has a very low opiate receptor affinity or lacks it fully. ⋯ As in the experiments by oral administration, naloxone did not show any effect on the analgesic activity of flupirtine, neither by intracerebroventricular nor by intrathecal application. On the other hand, the analgesic effects of pethidine and morphine were completely suppressed by naloxone. These results demonstrate that the analgesic activity of flupirtine is not caused by the opiate mechanism.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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The growing incidence of cancer pathology all over the world implies not only problems of prevention and cure, but also of pain control. Pain appears in more than 50% of cancer patients, mainly because analgesic opioids are not available or adequately administered. For this reason, the World Health Organization (WHO) has created a Collaborating Centre for Cancer Pain Relief at the Division of Pain Therapy of the National Cancer Institute, Milan. ⋯ Treatment is then either discontinued or changed to a following step because of side-effects (40%) or inefficacy (44%). The reduction in the use of non-narcotics corresponds to a successive increase in the use of opioids, particularly direct agonists. Through an adequate use of the analgesic ladder, pain can be relieved in the great majority of cancer patients.
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Addictive behaviors · Jan 1985
Narcotic utilization for back pain patients housed in private and semi-private rooms.
Hospital records from 40 back pain patients in private rooms and 40 back pain patients in semi-private rooms were reviewed to determine: (a) if patients in private rooms used more narcotics than patients in semi-private rooms; and (b) whether room type was a predictive variable for narcotic utilization. Patients in private rooms were found to be more likely to use intramuscular request-contingent narcotics than similar patients in semi-private rooms. No differences in the amount of narcotics were observed for other categories of narcotic analgesics. Room type, relevant medical, and demographic variables failed to account for this difference in medication utilization, suggesting that other factors such as medical staff and patient personality variables may be playing an important role in contributing to the use of narcotic analgesics by back-pain patients.
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Review
Opioid analgesics in anesthesia: with special reference to their use in cardiovascular anesthesia.
In this article, an attempt has been made to review the use of receptor stimulating pure agonist opioids in anesthesia, especially in patients with cardiovascular disease. Particular emphasis has been placed on the use of opioids in high doses to produce anesthesia, techniques that recently have become popular in cardiovascular anesthesia. A major benefit of opioid anesthesia is the cardiovascular stability obtained during induction and throughout operation, even in patients with severely impaired cardiac function. ⋯ The use of very large doses of opioids also will prolong postoperative respiratory depression. High doses of opioids can reduce or prevent the hormonal and metabolic responses to the stress of surgery. However, even very large doses of fentanyl or its newer analogues do not prevent marked increases in plasma catecholamine concentrations in response to cardiopulmonary bypass.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)