Use of Opioids for Cancer Pain
Key Points
Key Points
- Moderate-to-severe pain can be effectively manged with opioids, though serious challenges to their use exist, including well-characterized adverse events.
- As a result of opioid misuse, opioid-related deaths and other challenges, people with cancer report stigma and concern related to opioid use.
- Patients express fear of “addiction” along with guilt and a sense of moral failure that they require opioids, causing some to skip a dose or take a lower dose than prescribed.
Treatment
...eatment
...tion 1.1Opioids should be offered to patient...
...endation 1.2Prior to initiating opioid thera...
...n 2.1For patients who are candidates to begi...
...2.2Clinicians with limited experience with...
....1Opioids should be initiated at the lowest pos...
...ndation 3.2Opioids should be initiated a...
...3.3Patients who have been taking other an...
...commendation 3.4Evidence remains insufficie...
...3.5Evidence remains insufficient to rec...
...mendation 3.6For patients with a substan...
Recommendation 4Clinicians should pro...
...n 5.1For patients with renal impairment cu...
...n 5.2For patients with renal or hepat...
Recommendations 6.1In patients rec...
...on 6.2Evidence remains insufficient to re...
...n 7Opioid rotation should be offered to...
...e 1. Prevention and Management of Opioid-Ind...