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A new study from Vanderbilt University Medical Center reports that opioid users are at greater risk for serious infections including pneumonia and meningitis vs individuals who do not use opioid medications. The risk for invasive pneumococcal diseases was found to be 1.62 times higher among the...
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Naloxone received FDA approval for the treatment of opioid overdose in 1971. Only recently has its use at the community level become more commonplace. Dr. Zacharoff looks at naloxone's role in improving the safety and efficacy of opioid analgesics, and in arresting the surge in unintended opioid...
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With opioids in the penalty box, and no new molecule on the horizon, what is "plan B" for primary care in the treatment of chronic pain? Dr. Stacey offers perspective, as a pain practitioner.
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Patients with chronic pain and substance use disorders often have accompanying psychiatric and medical disorders that place them at elevated risk for suicide. Dr. Cheatle, a professor of psychiatry, discusses the epidemiology of suicidal ideation in this population and offers some guidance in...
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Dr. Pryzbylkowski reviews some alternatives to opioids for pain management at different points in the surgical spectrum that can promote improved patient outcomes and mitigate the risk of adverse effects from long term opioids.
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In this discussion, senior faculty members Heit and Gourlay reflect on some of the challenges resulting from the recent "decade of pain". Both the overuse of opioids and the solutions that have been proposed in response have led to changes in how we diagnose and treat this patient population...
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The risk for opioid dependency among opioid-naïve cancer patients who took the medication following lung surgery, is highlighted in new research presented earlier this week at the annual meeting of The Society of Thoracic Surgeons. Lead author Alexander Brescia, MD, commented, “Surgeons are at the...
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Results of a study conducted by researchers from Washington University School of Medicine and Barnes Jewish Hospital, St. Louis, suggest that a new patient education brochure is effective in forestalling diversion of opioid medications. The patient education material outlines safe medication...
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In a news release last week, Boston Scientific Corporation, Marlborough, MA, announced FDA approval for its Spectra WaveWriter Spinal Cord Stimulator (SCS) for the management of chronic pain. The Company describes it as “…the first and only system approved by the FDA to simultaneously provide...
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Cannabis as a pharmacological agent has been used for centuries. It's been described in China, in Asian countries dating back to well before the BC era. Ultimately it made its way to the United States where it actually was made available to patients until it was outlawed in the 1930s and '40s. And...