Acute Pain Management in Opioid Dependent Patients

Abstract

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• Acute pain management remains a challenge in opioid dependent patients, and it has been recognised that these patients are commonly under-treated.

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Chronic opioid exposure leads to widespread adaptations both at cellular and synaptic level.

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Physical dependence is a neuropharmacological phenomenon as a result of neuroadaptation and neuroplasticity, in contrast to addiction that is both neuropharmacological and behavioural.

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While providing the patient's pre-existing opioid requirement, the acute pain episode should be managed using additional multimodal analgesia: non-opioid medications in combination with local anaesthetic techniques and as required, short-acting opioid titrated to effect.

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Patients on long term buprenorphine and methadone with acute pain episode should be continued with their maintenance therapy and an additional short-acting opioid analgesic titrated to achieve therapeutic effect.