Journal of opioid management
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Opioids are commonly used in both cancer and noncancer pain. Many patients who require opioids have renal impairment. This can adversely influence the safety of opioids in these patients. ⋯ Consensus guidelines drawing on expertise from both palliative and renal physicians are needed to promote safer use of opioids in this vulnerable patient group.
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Multicenter Study Comparative Study
Use and misuse of buprenorphine in the management of opioid addiction.
Buprenorphine was approved in late 2004 for the treatment of opioid abuse and dependence in specially trained and certified physicians' offices. At the time of the approval, there was a regulatory concern that given the anticipated wide exposure there would be unexpectedly high levels of abuse in the high-risk population for which it was intended. To assess its abuse potential, the authors recruited more than 1000 individuals seeking treatment for prescription opioid abuse from 100 stand-alone (i.e., self-pay or insurance) drug abuse treatment programs around the country to determine whether they misused buprenorphine in the past 30 days to get high. ⋯ The most likely interpretation of these data is that the poly-substance-abusing population, for whom buprenorphine is intended, experimented with this medication for its mood-altering effects for a period of time, but presumably because of its lack of euphorogenic properties, its use has now dissipated. Additionally, support for this conclusion is the very rare endorsement of buprenorphine as a primary drug (<3 percent of the total sample). Thus, the results indicate that it is unlikely that buprenorphine abuse will ever reach the epidemic that was feared by some regulatory groups and that its use in opioid detoxification and maintenance should continue.