PAIN Week

Ravi Prasad, Phd, Stanford University, shared his work with the Stanford Comprehensive Interdisciplinary Pain Program to help improve patient quality of life.

A phase 3 study presented at PAINWeek 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada, showed the benefits of using an electronic tracking system.

Whether it’s drugs or procedures, there are different strategies for managing chronic pain. However, when psychological symptoms come into play, treatment may need to take an alternative course.

In a perfect world, the pain data provided by diagnostic tests would match up with how a patient is actually feeling. However, the association is probably not as strong as doctors would like.

Researchers behind the potential new opioid, cebranopadol, presented efficacy and safety results at PAINWeek 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Pain management is everyone's job. It's a human problem.

Oxycodone is one opioid option for patients with chronic pain and other conditions. The drug, however, has not been extensively studied in older patients.

"Opiates are not the first line for every condition; they should not be reflexively prescribed," said Alexis LaPietra, DO, St. Joseph's Medical Center.

Different types of pain respond to different medications; so a collaborative team across the United States and United Kingdom looked at how the Chronic Pain Questionnaire (CPQ) can assist in making those important treatment decisions.

There’s many benefits to using nitrous oxide for analgesia – which is why it’s a staple for dentists. Dubbed “laughing gas,” the tasteless, colorless gas has proven to be safe and effective for both adults and children.

There is a lot of regulatory scrutiny, media attention, and confusion about managing pain, so patient education should be at the forefront of physicians' minds.

It may seem like opioids could be a “quick fix” for acute low back pain, but introducing the drugs early on increases the risk for dependency and addiction.

Pain is the single most common reason people seek medical attention - more than heart disease, diabetes, and hypertension.

When a patient presents at the emergency room with severe pain, there are various things to take into consideration before deciding on a course of action. But there are new options out there that probably aren’t at the forefront of your thinking.

Presented at PAINWeek 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada, researchers looked at how turmeric could be used as a safer, more tolerable option for pain control.

In March 2016, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published new guidelines for prescribing opioids. And while the aim is to curb the deadly opioid epidemic, some physicians saying that the changes could cause other prescription issues.

Oxycodone, morphine, hydrocodone, and codeine are among the commonly recognized prescription painkillers. But levorphanol is one that has been around since 1953, yet is often left behind for a newer medication.

The subjectivity of pain is just one of the reasons that it’s challenging to manage. A common strategy comes in the form of prescription drugs, which poses its own set of challenges. Therefore, it isn’t clear how well opioids actually work.

Dr. Fricton of the University of Minnesota and HealthPartners Institute for Education and Research explored how to make transformative care a practical part in treating patients with chronic pain.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) created the Guidance for the Assessment of Abuse Potential of drugs for patients who have a history of recreational opioid use. But does the strategy actually work?

Mary Lynn McPherson, PharmD, BCPS, CPE, FASPE, shows healthcare professionals how to apply an equianalgesic opioid dosing chart to 12 complicated patient cases requiring an opioid switch.

Fifteen posters presented at PAINWeek 2013 demonstrate the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of a novel controlled-release combination oxycodone-acetaminophen analgesic in acute pain patients.

Post-hoc analysis of phase III clinical study results finds lubiprostone doesn't interfere with the analgesic effect of opioids in chronic non-cancer pain patients with opioid-induced constipation.

Although clinical psychiatrist Michael E. Schatman, PhD, CPE, formerly "beat the hell out of the opioid industry," he spent an hour on the PAINWeek stage supporting his new belief that "maybe it's time to stop fighting."

Two literature reviews of single-arm open-label (OL), open-label extension (OLE), and epidemiologic studies with a duration of six months or more provide evidence that long-term opioid therapy improves pain scores in chronic non-cancer pain patients.

In a cohort of family medicine physicians, researchers found a strong inverse relationship between confidence and comfort toward opioid prescribing and concern about negative consequences.

As the doctor shopping rate for immediate-release single entity oxycodone increased by 9 percent, reformulated extended-release OxyContin's doctor shopping rate fell by 40 percent.

Lisa M. McElhaney addresses the limited education, awareness, and prevention of bullying within pain management practices.

Commander John J. Burke details how pain management practitioners can adequately protect themselves from prescription drug diverters without hurting their legitimate patients.

Jennifer E. Bolen, JD, says it's the responsibility of physicians - not labs - to ensure drug testing reports comply with federal and state guidelines in the event of an audit.