Articles: opioid.
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The indications for initiating long-term opioid treatment (L-TOT) for chronic non-cancer pain (CNCP) are often unclear and associated with problematic use. This study aimed at evaluating the efficacy of stabilizing opioid therapy followed by a sequential opioid tapering off program in CNCP patients. ⋯ This trial showed that sequential tapering off L-TOT in CNCP patients may be an unfeasible approach. However, improvements after opioid treatment stabilization were achieved and stable pain intensity in those tapered off may encourage the development of more refined programs.
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The experience of pain is characterized by the presence of a noxious sensory stimulus combined with negative affect, which is often treated clinically through administration of drugs such as morphine or other opioids. This study investigated the effects of morphine one and seven days after intraplantar administration of complete freund's adjuvant (CFA) in male and female rats. Hargreaves test for thermal nociception and conditioned place preference (CPP) were performed following subcutaneous administration of saline or morphine (1.0, 4.0, 8.0, 12.0 mg/kg). ⋯ Seven days after CFA treatment, both male and female rats exhibited a CPP with morphine doses of 4.0 mg/kg and higher. These results reveal sexually dimorphic properties of morphine in the paw withdrawal latencies and conditioned place preference models, representing reflexive and non-reflexive behavioral assays employed to examine inflammatory nociception. Our findings also suggest that antinociceptive effects of morphine are dynamic across early and later periods of CFA-induced inflammatory pain.
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Although opioids remain the standard therapy for the treatment of postoperative pain, the prevalence of opioid misuse is rising. The extent to which opioid abuse or dependence affects readmission rates and healthcare utilization is not fully understood. It was hypothesized that surgical patients with a history of opioid abuse or dependence would have higher readmission rates and healthcare utilization. ⋯ An online visual overview is available for this article at http://links.lww.com/ALN/B704.