INTRODUCTION Misuse of opioid analgesics, in combination with diversion, dependence, and fatal overdoses, presents a serious problem for public health, which affects many countries worldwide. Within this context, tampering with opioids has been associated with serious harm. The aim of the present study was to assess the tampering potential of codeine combination analgesics on the market (contai...

BACKGROUND Pain, not responsive to opioid analgesics, remains a problem for patients with chronic and cancer pain as well as their families, and clinicians. Opioid antagonists have various uses in pain and palliative care. Their use in the reversal of tolerance and hyperalgesia remains at the basic science level and has limited clinical exposure. OBJECTIVE To improve symptom control and quali...

Opioid abuse and misuse in the USA is a public health crisis. The use of prescription opioid analgesics increased substantially from 2002 through 2010, then plateaued and began to decrease in 2011. This study examined prescriptions of branded and generic immediate- and extended-release opioid analgesics from 1992 to 2016. This was juxtaposed against state and federal policies designed to decrea...

CONTEXT Pain often is inadequately treated due in part to reluctance about using opioid analgesics and fear that they will be abused. Although international and national expert groups have determined that opioid analgesics are essential for the relief of pain, little information has been available about the health consequences of the abuse of these drugs. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the proportion ...

C describe the concept of multimodal analgesia and give examples Abstract Opium is the natural substance to which modern narcotics owe their existence. First discovered in the 1500s, opium was the most potent analgesic compound in use, held in high regard, hence its Latin name laudanum (to praise). Subsequent studies into the effects of opium led to the discovery of the opioid receptors, and th...

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES To review strategies to optimize the management of chronic pain in patients with cancer, with an emphasis on the role of opioid analgesics. DATA SOURCES Published research, articles from a literature review, and U. S. statistics. DATA SYNTHESIS Treatment for cancer pain remains suboptimal. With the therapies currently available, as much as 90% of cancer pain can be contro...

background: opioid drugs are the most effective drugs for the treatment of moderate to severe pain. rates of opioid use are influenced by a variety of factors. the aim of this study was to determine the pattern of use of parenteral opioid drugs in hospitalized patients in a referral teaching hospital. methods: in a retrospective study, required data were extracted from medical records of adult ...

BACKGROUND The epidemic of medical use and abuse of opioid analgesics is linked to the economic burden of opioid-related abuse and fatalities in the United States. Multiple studies have estimated the extent to which prescription opioid analgesics contribute to the national drug abuse problem; studies also assessing the trends in medical use and abuse of opioid analgesics have confirmed the rela...

PROLOGUE The opioid analgesics represent an important class of agents for the treatment of severe clinical pain, but many effects often limit their usefulness. This manuscript will discuss recent findings in opioid pharmacology, and how medicinal chemists may be able to utilize these findings of novel opioid analgesics with reduced undesired effects. As such, the manuscript serves as an example...