Articles: opioid.
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Br J Clin Pharmacol · Aug 2021
Tapentadol and oxycodone reduce cingulate glutamate in healthy volunteers.
Tapentadol and oxycodone are commonly used analgesics. Preclinical studies have shown that oxycodone modulates brain metabolites related to opioid pathways, whereas tapentadol also affects noradrenergic activity. However, knowledge about the function of the medications in the human brain is limited. ⋯ Magnetic resonance spectroscopy was obtained in 21 healthy subjects from the anterior cingulate cortex, prefrontal cortex, and insula at baseline and after 14 days of treatment with either 50 mg tapentadol, 10 mg oxycodone (equipotent dose, both extended release) or placebo twice daily in a randomized double-blind cross-over study. Compared to baseline, decreased glutamate/creatine levels were identified in anterior cingulate cortex after tapentadol (1.26 ± 0.14 vs. 1.35 ± 0.18, P = .04) and oxycodone (1.26 ± 0.10 vs. 1.35 ± 0.12, P = .05) treatments, both with 7% reduction. This indicates that both analgesics modulate the glutamatergic system at the supraspinal level in humans.
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Scand J Trauma Resus · Aug 2021
Discharge from the trauma centre: exposure to opioids, unmet information needs and lack of follow up-a qualitative study among physical trauma survivors.
Physical trauma is associated with mortality, long-term pain and morbidity. Effective pain management is fundamental in trauma care and opioids are indispensable for treating acute pain; however, the use and misuse of prescribed opioids is an escalating problem. Despite this, few studies have been directed towards trauma patients in an early phase of rehabilitation with focusing on experiences and perspectives of health and recovery including pain and persistent use of prescribed opioids with abuse potential. To explore pre- and post-discharge trauma care experiences, including exposure to opioids, physical trauma survivors were recruited from a major trauma centre in Norway that provides the highest level of surgical trauma care. ⋯ The findings from this study suggest that in addition to delivery of high-quality biomedical trauma care, health professionals should direct more attention to psychosocial health and safe pain management, including post-discharge opioid tapering and individually tailored follow-up plans for physical trauma survivors.
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With a dramatic rise in prescription opioid use, it is imperative to review postsurgical prescribing patterns given their contributions to the opioid epidemic. ⋯ Provider-aimed interventions such as implementation of procedure-specific prescribing guidelines can significantly reduce postoperative opioid prescriptions following spine surgery without increasing the need for refill prescriptions for pain control.
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Despite inconclusive evidence that prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMP) reduce opioid-related mortality, guidelines recommend PDMP review with opioid prescribing. Some reported barriers to use include time-consuming processes to obtain data and workflow disruptions. ⋯ Further study of PDMP-EHR integration programs on patient and clinician outcomes may illuminate the role of this technology in public health and in clinical practice.