Tag: opioids

Pain is one of the most frequent complaints reported by cancer patients. In their terminal periods, the proportion of patients suffering from pain reaches 75%. Even, the most convenient route of administration of medicines is the oral route, not every clinical situation permits the oral therapy. Alternative routes of administration of medicines, especially in palliative medicine, involve multiple injections or continuous infusions, both subcutaneous and intravenous...

Despite a more than tenfold increase in opioid consumption in the past decades, many cancer patients still suffer pain. The current understanding of this situation is poorly understood. It is still possible that in some countries pain is still undertreated, but it is also possible that we do not appreciate opioid induced toxicity and other phenomena an/or our opioid prescribing needs to be refreshed...

Ehlers-Danlos syndrome is not a well-known condition and often remains undiagnosed. Causal treatment does not exist, but there are numerous symptoms requiring symptomatic therapy. One of these, a particularly nagging one, is chronic pain...

Ischaemic pain belongs amongst the most difficult to treat pains in palliative care. The pain is frequently severe and resistant to available analgesics. Treatment of this condition is difficult especially when the condition is inoperable..

We discuss the problem of the continuation of analgesic treatment in an 87-years-old woman with tumor of the right femur who suffered from very severe pain, but was unable to make her own decisions...

It is well established that opioids help the organism to cope with environmental stress, tissue injury, pathogen invasion, inflammation, and tumor growth. Opioids elicit immunosupressive effects which may become benefitial in the context of chronic inflammation, however, it may be detremental in the context of tissue repair...

Stosowanie opioidów wiąże się z występowaniem działań niepożądanych ze strony układu pokarmowego, takich jak zaparcia, zatwardzenie stolca, niezupełne wypróżnienia, wzdęcia, utrata apetytu, refluks żołądkowo-przełykowy, bóle brzucha, nudności, wymioty [1, 2]. Wskazuje się, że najbardziej narażeni na działania niepożądane opioidów ze strony układu pokarmowego są pacjenci starsi oraz leczeni paliatywnie...

W Polsce na nowotwory złośliwe umiera w ciągu roku ponad 80 000 chorych. Ból może pojawiać się na każdym etapie choroby nowotworowej i występuje średnio u 50%, a w zaawansowanym okresie choroby — u ponad 75% chorych...

Understanding of the molecular mechanisms in the opioid systems in chronic pain should produce new, more effective methods of the pharmacotherapy of pain. Pharmacological suppression of glial activation in combination with morphine, methadone, fentanyl and buprenorphine may be an important aspect of pain therapy...

Opioids are the mainstay of pain treatment in cancer. In the course of disease many patients will experience increase of pain intensity and hence need an increase of the opioid dose. However, in some situations, when for example the other treatment of pain is effective, the dose of opioids could and should be decreased or even discontinued...