Introduction and Scope of the Problem In 2017, the opioid overdose epidemic was declared a public health emergency by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Since 2000, death rates from opioid overdoses have increased by 200%. Life expectancy…
Introduction and Scope of the Problem Over the past 30 years, chronic pain and opioid use have dominated the headlines, both in popular news sources and in medical journals. Chronic pain impacted the lives of more than 125 million adults…
Introduction and Scope of the Problem Patients with metastatic cancer can experience pain throughout their illness, whether it is due to the cancer itself or due to the effects of treatment such as surgical intervention, prior radiation therapy, or chemotherapy.…
Introduction and Scope of the Problem Bone disease is a common occurrence in patients with malignancies and a common site for metastatic spread with advanced breast, lung, prostate, thyroid, and renal cancers as well as multiple myeloma. The incidence of…
Introduction and Scope of the Problem Pain is perhaps the most feared and persistent symptom in palliative care, affecting a major proportion of patients in this setting. Corticosteroids and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are frequently used to manage mild to…
Introduction and Scope of the Problem As defined by the 2011 International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP), neuropathic pain is “pain caused by a lesion or disease of the somatosensory system.” This was a new definition, distinguishing a…
Introduction and Scope of the Problem Methadone is a powerful tool for treating pain in patients with serious illness. Initially synthesized in the late 1940s, methadone has grown in popularity as an analgesic in recent years. Due to action at…
Introduction and Scope of the Problem Opioids are a mainstay of pain management for patients with serious or advanced illness. For the majority of patients, there is no clearly preferred opioid; however, medication selection for patients with renal or hepatic…
Introduction and Scope of the Problem Pain is defined as “an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage.” The experience of pain is subjective, and thus a patient’s self-report of pain is the gold standard…
Introduction and Scope of the Problem Opioids can be part of a safe and effective pain management strategy for patients when prescribed according to evidence-based guidelines. Clinicians may wish to change from one opioid or route to another for a…