Opioids News and Research

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An opioid is a chemical that works by binding to opioid receptors, which are found principally in the central nervous system and the gastrointestinal tract. The receptors in these two organ systems mediate both the beneficial effects and the side effects of opioids.

Risk group system may help better predict long-term consequences from whiplash trauma

Possible long-term consequences from a whiplash trauma can be effectively predicted if the injured persons are subdivided into different risk groups shortly after the car accident. This is shown by a Danish study that was presented at the Congress of the European Academy of Neurology in Copenhagen.

1 Jun 2016

Study identifies persistent opioid use in some patients after knee or hip replacement

Many patients undergoing hip or knee replacement are still taking prescription opioid pain medications up to six months after surgery, reports a study in PAIN, the official publication of the International Association for the Study of Pain.

1 Jun 2016

Short-term use of opioids implicated in protracted pain, new study finds

Painkillers such as morphine, oxycodone and methadone could actually prolong and increase pain even after only a few days’ use, according to research conducted on rats by scientists at the University of Colorado Boulder in the US.

31 May 2016

Brief opioid exposure can cause increase in chronic pain

The dark side of painkillers - their dramatic increase in use and ability to trigger abuse, addiction and thousands of fatal overdoses annually in the United States is in the news virtually every day.

31 May 2016

Reducing use of opioid medications possible, but challenging

A team of researchers at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and the VA Eastern Colorado Health Care System recently surveyed patients to understand barriers to reducing the use of opioids to manage chronic pain. The results of those interviews are published in the current issue of the journal Pain Medicine.

28 May 2016

Inadequate monitoring places post-operative patients at risk for opioid-induced respiratory depression

Nearly 75 percent of hospitalized patients receiving opioids for pain management are not monitored according to hospital guidelines.

28 May 2016

Pharmacist suggests education as foremost strategy to control opioid abuse

Technologies that make it harder for people to abuse opioids - like doctoring pills so that they produce unpleasant side effects if broken, crushed or injected -- likely will have limited effectiveness in stemming the global epidemic of opioid abuse, according to Adam Kaye, a professor of pharmacy at University of the Pacific.

28 May 2016

First buprenorphine implant for opioid dependence treatment gets FDA approval

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Probuphine, the first buprenorphine implant for the maintenance treatment of opioid dependence. Probuphine is designed to provide a constant, low-level dose of buprenorphine for six months in patients who are already stable on low-to-moderate doses of other forms of buprenorphine, as part of a complete treatment program.

27 May 2016

Antidote-resistant overdose patients may have received synthetic opioid W-18, suspects anesthesiologist

Months ago, ASRA member and anesthesiologist Anita Gupta, MD, suspected overdose patients had received heroin spiked with a synthetic opioid additive because they were not responding to the antidote, naloxone, routinely used by emergency workers.

25 May 2016

Easy, immediate access to effective antidotes could help reduce deaths from opioid overdose

Over the past 15 years, deaths caused by heroin and prescription opioid overdoses have quadrupled despite the existence of a highly effective antidote. The cover story in Chemical & Engineering News, the weekly news magazine of the American Chemical Society, explores what it might take to turn the tide.

19 May 2016

Better self-care and patient education can improve treatment for chronic pain

The National Pain Strategy, released this year by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, places strong emphasis on self management and patient education as critical pathways for improving treatment of chronic pain, especially the leading malady, back pain.

15 May 2016

Gene therapy could be potential treatment for neuropathic pain in cancer patients

A study providing new information about neuropathic pain afflicting some 90 percent of cancer patients who have had nerve damage caused by tumors, surgery, chemotherapy or radiation indicates gene therapy as a possible treatment.

6 May 2016

Study shows impact of increasing number of opioid-related hospitalizations on health care costs

Infection is a serious complication of intravenous drug abuse and a major cause of illness and death among intravenous drug users. As the national problem of opioid abuse, including of heroin, continues to grow, new research by clinicians at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the VA Boston Healthcare System, published today in the May issue of the journal Health Affairs, offers new insights into the significant impact of the trend on opioid-related hospitalizations, infectious complications and health care costs.

3 May 2016

Motivational interviewing can help reduce risky use of pain pills

As America battles an epidemic of deaths from misused pain pills, a new study suggests an inexpensive way to cut risky use of these drugs by people who have a high chance of overdosing.

21 Apr 2016

Patients who survived life-threatening illness in ICU at increased risk for psychiatric symptoms

Results of a multi-institutional national study of nearly 700 people who survived life-threatening illness with a stay in an intensive care unit (ICU) suggest that a substantial majority of them are at high risk for persistent depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder — especially if they are female, young and unemployed.

21 Apr 2016

Naltrexone injections could reduce risk of relapse among opioid dependent individuals

In a multicenter, randomized clinical trial, ex-prisoners who received six monthly injections of naltrexone--a long-acting medication that blocks opioid receptors in the brain--were significantly less likely to resume opioid use than those who received counseling and referrals to community treatment centers without naltrexone.

31 Mar 2016

Opioids could be dangerous, deadly at high doses

Most people know that heroin is a dangerous drug, but its cousins, the legal, pharmaceutical opioids, such as codeine or hydrocodone, must be safe, right?Not so fast.Opioids—which include the illegal drug heroin as well as prescription medications, including hydrocodone (such as Vicodin), oxycodone (such as OxyContin and Percocet), morphine and codeine—can be dangerous, even deadly, at high doses.

31 Mar 2016

Lancet experts call for evidence-based approach to drug policy

Fifty years of drug policies aimed at restricting and criminalizing drug use and minor possession have had serious detrimental effects on the health, wellbeing and human rights of drug users and the wider public, according to a major new report by The Lancet and Johns Hopkins University in the US

25 Mar 2016

Restrictions to opioid prescription block their use for safe, effective pain relief

Opioids are very effective for treating some types of pain, such as cancer pain and postoperative pain, but not for other kinds of pain like chronic low back pain. An increase in the number of opioid-related deaths among addicts has led to the current movement to restrict opioid prescribing by state and federal authorities.

25 Mar 2016

FDA issues draft guidance to support development of approved ADF opioids

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today issued a draft guidance intended to support industry in their development of generic versions of approved opioids with abuse-deterrent formulations (ADF) while ensuring that generic ADF opioids are no less abuse-deterrent than the brand-name drug.

25 Mar 2016

Opioids News and Research

Further Reading

Risk group system may help better predict long-term consequences from whiplash trauma

Study identifies persistent opioid use in some patients after knee or hip replacement

Short-term use of opioids implicated in protracted pain, new study finds

Brief opioid exposure can cause increase in chronic pain

Reducing use of opioid medications possible, but challenging

Inadequate monitoring places post-operative patients at risk for opioid-induced respiratory depression

Pharmacist suggests education as foremost strategy to control opioid abuse

First buprenorphine implant for opioid dependence treatment gets FDA approval

Antidote-resistant overdose patients may have received synthetic opioid W-18, suspects anesthesiologist

Easy, immediate access to effective antidotes could help reduce deaths from opioid overdose

Better self-care and patient education can improve treatment for chronic pain

Gene therapy could be potential treatment for neuropathic pain in cancer patients

Study shows impact of increasing number of opioid-related hospitalizations on health care costs

Motivational interviewing can help reduce risky use of pain pills

Patients who survived life-threatening illness in ICU at increased risk for psychiatric symptoms

Naltrexone injections could reduce risk of relapse among opioid dependent individuals

Opioids could be dangerous, deadly at high doses

Lancet experts call for evidence-based approach to drug policy

Restrictions to opioid prescription block their use for safe, effective pain relief

FDA issues draft guidance to support development of approved ADF opioids

Expanding research and clinical options for children with cancer

Examining how pain could play a direct protective role in the gut

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