Narcotic analgesics: Fears and responsibilities

Hepatotoxicity of non-narcotic analgesics.

The central role of the liver in drug metabolism sets the stage for drug-related hepatotoxicity. The incidence of hepatotoxicity associated with non-narcotic analgesics is low, but their widespread use both prescription and over-the-counter-makes analgesic-associated hepatotoxicity a clinically and economically important problem. Hepatotoxicity is considered a class characteristic of nonsteroid...

Supplementation of general anaesthesia with narcotic analgesics.

Four analgesic drugs--fentanyl, phenoperidine, morphine and pethidine--were compared in a double-blind trial involving 113 patients paralysed and ventilated with nitrous oxide and oxygen. The differences between the drugs were relatively small. There were only slight differences in "duration of action", a term which is questioned in this context. Pethidine appeared to have a slightly longer dur...

Narcotic analgesics as adjuncts to dental practice.

Pain is both a symptom and a sensation. As a symptom, pain signals danger and thus provokes appropriate reflexes. Sher­ rington,2 accordingly, described pain as “the psychical adjunct of an imperative protective reflex.” From a therapeutic viewpoint, pain is a valuable clinical symptom to the practitioner. It also follows that the management of pain— a symptom— must be subject to the same limit...

The use of narcotic analgesics in terminal illness.

Effects of narcotic and non-narcotic analgesics on the abdominal or tail stimulation-induced struggling in rats.

As a model, we used struggling induced by a repetitive stimulation of the tail or abdomen and two types of pseudoaffective responses were evoked in rats. The effects of narcotic and non-narcotic analgesics on these responses were alternately assessed. Narcotics were markedly effective in inhibiting struggling elicited by tail stimulation and slightly less effective in suppressing the abdominal ...