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Query: UMLS:C0184567 (acute pain)
 3,962 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The purposes of this study were to (a) test the feasibility of the Cancer Total Quality Pain Management (TQPM) Patient Assessment Tool in a population of oncology inpatient and outpatients; and (b) identify factors associated with poor pain relief. The Cancer TQPM Tool was adapted from the American Pain Society's Quality Assurance Standards on Acute Pain and Cancer Pain and was tested in a convenience sample of 200 patients. The majority of patients reported that the TQPM Tool was easy to understand and to use, providing evidence for the feasibility of the tool. Factors associated with higher pain intensity included the inpatient setting, the presence of metastatic disease, hesitancy in bothering the nurse, and concerns regarding tolerance and addiction. Although there was a strong relationship between concern about addiction and concern about tolerance, fear of tolerance appeared to have a greater effect on pain intensity scores than did fear of addiction. The findings from this study suggest that the Cancer TQPM Patient Assessment Tool can be used effectively in both inpatients and outpatients to determine outcomes and the quality of cancer pain management, as well identify factors associated with poor pain control. Clinical implications include more effective education of patients and caregivers, including equivalent emphasis on tolerance and addiction.
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PMID:Barriers to cancer pain relief: fear of tolerance and addiction. 970 52

The vaso-occlusive crisis, or sickle cell crisis, is a common painful complication of sickle cell disease in adolescents and adults. Acute episodes of severe pain (crises) are the primary reason that these patients seek medical care in hospital emergency departments. Frequently, however, the pain is incompletely treated. Despite advances in pain management, physicians are often reluctant to give patients adequate dosages of narcotic analgesics because of concerns about addiction, tolerance and side effects. It is important to recognize a pain crisis early, correct the inciting causes, control pain, maintain euvolemia and, when necessary, administer adequate hemoglobin to decrease the hemoglobin S level. The family physician and the hematologist must work together to treat acute pain episodes promptly and effectively, manage the long-term sequelae of chronic pain and prevent future vaso-occlusive crises.
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PMID:Approach to the vaso-occlusive crisis in adults with sickle cell disease. 1073 42

Effective management of chronic pain has become an increasingly critical issue in health care. Opioid agonists are among the most effective analgesics available for reducing pain perception; however, their chronic use is controversial. This is primarily due to regulatory barriers, misunderstandings about pain management among primary caregivers, fear of adverse side effects, and misconceptions about the potential risks of addiction. Short-acting opioids provide effective analgesia for acute pain but should be avoided as primary analgesics for chronic pain management. Long-acting opioids have greater utility than short-acting opioids in treating chronic pain in patients with consistent pain levels. Results of studies show that improved quality of life is directly related to the use of long-acting opioids in patients with chronic pain of both cancer and noncancer etiology. Short-acting opioids may be used during the initial dose titration period of long-acting formulations and as rescue medication for episodes of breakthrough pain. Clinical experience reveals that selection of an effective pain regimen for the patient with chronic pain, combined with aggressive management of side effects, leads to improved overall functioning and quality of life.
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PMID:Long-acting opioids for chronic pain: pharmacotherapeutic opportunities to enhance compliance, quality of life, and analgesia. 1134 85

Alvimopan (ADL 8-2698; Adolor Corporation, Exton, PA, USA) is a novel, peripherally restricted opioid antagonist. After oral administration, it has activity specific to the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. ADL 8-2698 has low systemic absorption and a high affinity for mu-opioid receptors. In healthy subjects, ADL 8-2698 antagonized loperamide-induced changes in GI transit and prevented morphine-induced delays in oral-cecal transit time without antagonizing centrally mediated opioid effects, such as analgesia or pupillary constriction. In the treatment of opioid naive patients who underwent surgery and received opioids for acute pain, oral ADL 8-2698 (6.0 mg) improved the management of postoperative ileus (POI) by shortening the time to achieve normal bowel function and, ultimately, hospital stay. Postoperative nausea and vomiting and the overall incidence of all GI side effects were reduced in patients treated with ADL 8-2698 for POI. Analgesia was not compromised, because there were no changes in median opioid consumption or Visual Analog Scale (VAS) pain scores in patients treated with ADL 8-2698 versus patients treated with placebo. No drug-related side effects were observed in acute pain postsurgical patients in the initial POI study. In patients treated with opioids for chronic pain or opioid addiction, lower doses of oral ADL 8-2698 (0.5 to 3.0 mg) reversed opioid bowel dysfunction (OBD) and normalized GI activity. These effects were evident without compromising opioid analgesia or inducing central nervous system symptoms of withdrawal. Some chronic opioid patients receiving apparently supramaximal doses of ADL 8-2698 (> or = 3.0 mg) reported localized GI side effects, possibly indicative of a localized GI withdrawal response. The most common side effects of ADL 8-2698 in chronic pain patients with OBD were abdominal pain, flatulence, and diarrhea. These effects were not observed in most OBD patients receiving lower doses of ADL 8-2698. Overall, ADL 8-2698 was well tolerated in clinical trials. Further studies to evaluate the efficacy and safety of ADL 8-2698 in clinical practice are in progress.
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PMID:Alvimopan* (ADL 8-2698) is a novel peripheral opioid antagonist. 1175 94

Administration of opioids to alleviate moderate to severe acute pain and chronic cancer pain is an established management process. However, advancements in clinical pharmacologic research have shown that opioids are also effective in chronic noncancerous pain. Many patients properly treated for prolonged periods with opioids develop tolerance and subsequently, physical dependence. This process is not necessarily harmful to the patient and will not cause the patient to develop an addiction (properly defined as psychologic dependence). For many patients who have been on opioid therapy for months or years, analgesic effectiveness tragically becomes less. In addition, opioid-induced constipation can be severe and cause pain; patients do not develop tolerance to this adverse reaction. Therefore, such issues become a management problem and require additional intervention. Currently, many different classes of drugs can serve as effective adjuncts to opioids for treatment of pain. Adding adjunctive medication to opioid therapy improves pain management primarily by nonopioid mechanisms of action. Clinical outcomes of such combinations include greater analgesia and attenuation of opioid-induced adverse reactions such as nausea and vomiting, constipation, sedation, and respiratory depression. Adjuncts include acetaminophen, antiarrhythmics, anticonvulsants, antidepressants, antipsychotics, baclofen, benzodiazepines, capsaicin, calcium channel blockers, clonidine hydrochloride, central nervous system stimulants, corticosteroids, local anesthetics, N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonists, nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs, pentoxifylline, and scopolamine. Some adjuncts (eg, acetaminophen) are routinely used today, whereas others (eg, nifedipine [calcium channel blocker]) are used on a limited basis but have great potential for more widespread application. All professionals (eg, nurses, pharmacists, physicians, physicians' assistants, social workers, members of the clergy) involved in treating patients with unresolved pain recognize this to be an extraordinary and delicate time. It is when patients are likely to request physicians to provide some method to accelerate their death. Thus, inadequate analgesia can become a suicidogen, ie, any factor that causes a patient to want to commit suicide. Incorporation of adjuncts to opioid therapy can serve to lessen pain and improve quality of life for a suffering patient.
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PMID:Adjuncts to opioid therapy. 1235 36

The management of patients with chronic pain is a common clinical challenge. Indeed, chronic pain is often inadequately controlled in patients with cancer and in those with non-cancer chronic pain. Because of the complex nature of chronic pain, successful long-term treatment is more difficult than for acute pain. Most often acute pain is nociceptive, whereas chronic pain can be nociceptive (i.e., in response to noxious stimuli), neuropathic (i.e., initiated by a primary lesion or dysfunction in the nervous system) or mixed in origin. Opioids are the current standard of care for the treatment of moderate or severe nociceptive pain. Opioids mediate their actions by binding and activating receptors both in the peripheral nervous system and those that are found in inhibitory pain circuits that descend from the midbrain to the spinal cord dorsal horn. Opioid agonists exert a number of physiological responses including analgesia, which increases with increasing doses. The use of opioids to manage pain in patients with cancer is well accepted. The WHO step-wise algorithm for analgesic therapy based on pain severity reserves the use of opioid therapy for moderate and severe pain. The WHO algorithm has proven to be highly effective for the management of cancer pain. However, the use of opioids to treat patients with chronic non-cancer pain is controversial because of concerns about efficacy and safety, and the possibility of addiction or abuse. The results of clinical surveys and retrospective case series involving patients with non-cancer chronic pain have been inconsistent in regard to resolving these controversial issues. The oral route of drug administration is most appropriate for patients receiving opioids; although rectal, transdermal and parenteral routes of administration are used in specific situations. For continuous chronic pain, opioids should be administered around-the-clock and several long-acting formulations are available that require administration only once or twice daily. Opioid doses should be titrated according to agent-specific schedules to maximise pain relief and maintain tolerability. Adverse effects include constipation, nausea and vomiting, sedation, cognitive impairment and respiratory depression. Tolerance to the analgesic and adverse effects as well as physical dependence, which causes withdrawal symptoms upon discontinuance, may occur with opioid use. Estimates of addiction rates among patients with chronic non-cancer pain range from 3.2 to 18.9%. Successful pain treatment and symptom management is an attainable goal for the majority of patients with chronic pain. Further controlled clinical trials are needed to define the role of opioid therapy in chronic non-cancer pain, and to establish criteria for patient selection and specific treatment algorithms.
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PMID:Responsible prescribing of opioids for the management of chronic pain. 1248 20

Successful pain management in the recovering addict provides primary care physicians with unique challenges. Pain control can be achieved in these individuals if physicians follow basic guidelines such as those put forward by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations in their standards for pain management as well as by the World Health Organization in their stepladder approach to pain treatment. Legal concerns with using pain medications in addicted patients can be dealt with by clear documentation of indication for the medication, dose, dosing interval, and amount provided. Terms physicians need to be familiar with include physical dependence, tolerance, substance abuse, and active versus recovering addiction. Treatment is unique for 3 different types of pain: acute, chronic, and end of life. Acute pain is treated in a similar fashion for all patients regardless of addiction history. However, follow-up is important to prevent relapse. The goal of chronic pain treatment in addicted patients is the same as individuals without addictive disorders-to maximize functional level while providing pain relief. However, to minimize abuse potential, it is important to have 1 physician provide all pain medication prescriptions as well as reduce the opioid dose to a minimum effective dose, be aware of tolerance potential, wean periodically to reassess pain control, and use nonpsychotropic pain medications when possible. Patients who are at the end of their life need to receive aggressive management of pain regardless of addiction history. This management includes developing a therapeutic relationship with patients and their families so that pain medications can be used without abuse concerns. By following these strategies, physicians can successfully provide adequate pain control for individuals with histories of addiction.
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PMID:Successful Pain Management for the Recovering Addicted Patient. 1501 19

The use of opioids has long been accepted as the standard of care in patients with cancer and acute pain. Opioids can further be used effectively in specific subgroups of patients with chronic nonmalignant pain states. While the development of tolerance and physical dependence are known effects of opioids in cancer and noncancer pain populations, these patients can not be regarded as addicted. However, long-term therapy with short-acting opioids predisposes to tolerance and addiction. Recent research has confirmed the important role of psychopathologic and psychosocial conditions as predictors of failed opioid effectiveness in a significant number of noncancer pain subgroups. The clinical picture of failed therapy may be complicated by noncompliance, concealed consumption of psychotropic substances, and diversion of prescribed opioids for various purposes as, e.g., selling for profit, or sharing excess opioids with others. This article discusses the effects of opioid therapy, including tolerance, physical dependence, drug-aberrant behavior, drug history, psychopathology, and somatization.
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PMID:Opioid tolerance and dependence -- do they matter? 1573 7

The problem of abuse of and addiction to opioid analgesics has emerged as a major issue for the United States in the past decade and has worsened over the past few years. The increases in abuse of these opioids appear to reflect, in part, changes in medication prescribing practices, changes in drug formulations as well as relatively easy access via the internet. Though the use of opioid analgesics for the treatment of acute pain appears to be generally benign, long-term administration of opioids has been associated with clinically meaningful rates of abuse or addiction. Important areas of research to help with the problem of opioid analgesic abuse include the identification of clinical practices that minimize the risks of addiction, the development of guidelines for early detection and management of addiction, the development of opioid analgesics that minimize the risks for abuse, and the development of safe and effective non-opioid analgesics. With high rates of abuse of opiate analgesics among teenagers in the United States, a particularly urgent priority is the investigation of best practices for treating pain in adolescents as well as the development of prevention strategies to reduce diversion and abuse.
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PMID:Major increases in opioid analgesic abuse in the United States: concerns and strategies. 1602 4

More patients with opioid addiction are receiving opioid agonist therapy (OAT) with methadone and buprenorphine. As a result, physicians will more frequently encounter patients receiving OAT who develop acutely painful conditions, requiring effective treatment strategies. Undertreatment of acute pain is suboptimal medical treatment, and patients receiving long-term OAT are at particular risk. This paper acknowledges the complex interplay among addictive disease, OAT, and acute pain management and describes 4 common misconceptions resulting in suboptimal treatment of acute pain. Clinical recommendations for providing analgesia for patients with acute pain who are receiving OAT are presented. Although challenging, acute pain in patients receiving this type of therapy can effectively be managed.
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PMID:Acute pain management for patients receiving maintenance methadone or buprenorphine therapy. 1641 12


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