Articles: opioid.
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Postoperative administration of paracetamol or its prodrug propacetamol has been shown to decrease pain with a morphine sparing effect. However, the effect of propacetamol administered intra-operatively on post-operative pain and early postoperative morphine consumption has not been clearly evaluated. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of analgesic protocols in the management of post-operative pain, a standardized anesthesia protocol without long-acting opioids is crucial. Thus, for ethical reasons, the surgical procedure under general anesthesia with remifentanil as the only intraoperative analgesic must be associated with a moderate predictable postoperative pain. ⋯ Intraoperative propacetamol administration with remifentanil based-anesthesia improved significantly early postoperative pain by sparing morphine and shortening the delay to achieve pain relief.
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The objective of this study was to investigate di-acetyl morphine as an alternative opioid analgesic for use in implanted intrathecal drug delivery systems because of its greater solubility through evaluation of its stability in vivo and analgesic efficacy in the period between pump refills. Contents of intrathecal drug delivery system reservoirs (SynchroMed, Medtronic, Inc., Minneapolis, MN) that had been filled with di-acetyl morphine dissolved in saline (21), bupivacaine (9), or in both bupivacaine and clonidine (19) were sampled in vivo between 1 and 125 days after refill. The samples were assayed for di-acetyl morphine and its breakdown products by micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography. ⋯ Mono-acetyl morphine decayed to morphine with a maxima estimated at 125 days. There was no clinically significant change in average weekly pain scores for up to ten weeks in either group (range, 2.5 to 2.8 for diamorphine and 2.7 to 3.1 for morphine) (2-way repeated ANOVA, F(9,220) = 0.98, n.s.). We conclude that di-acetyl morphine and its breakdown products, 6 mono-acetyl morphine and morphine, provide similar analgesia to morphine alone when administered by intrathecal pump for a period of at least ten weeks and may be a useful alternative when a more soluble agent is favored.
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Multiple aberrant behaviors have been described to identify patients abusing opioids and using illicit drugs. However, patient behavior encompassing aggressive seeking or complaining about the need for higher doses of opioids has not yet been evaluated with regards to misuse or abuse patterns of prescription drugs and illicit drug usage. ⋯ A significant proportion of patients, whether they were seeking additional opioids or not, used illicit drugs. Further, a greater proportion of patients in Group II used illicit drugs and non-prescribed opioids.
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Chronic, refractory low back pain is a common problem. Percutaneous adhesiolysis with hypertonic saline neurolysis was described in the management of chronic refractory low back pain, non-responsive to conservative modalities of management. ⋯ Percutaneous adhesiolysis, with or without hypertonic saline neurolysis, is an effective treatment for chronic low back pain.
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Plasma Beta endorphin (BE) is an endogenous peptide opioid derived form pro-opiomelanocortin. Although the role of plasma BE in pain regulation is unclear, plasma BE levels have been reported to correlate inversely with pain levels in cancer pain. ⋯ Plasma BE levels increased with improved pain control in patients with upper abdominal gastrointestinal malignancies. Although the role of plasma BE in pain pathophysiology is unclear, it appears that pain relief per se, and not the analgesic technique, modulates plasma BE levels. This suggests that plasma BE levels may serve as an objective measure of cancer pain severity and corroborate the patient's report of pain relief.