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
...Treatment...
Recommendation 1.1Opioids should be offered to pa...
...1.2Prior to initiating opioid therapy, cli...
...tion 2.1For patients who are candidates to begin...
...ndation 2.2Clinicians with limited experi...
...ecommendation 3.1Opioids should be initi...
....2Opioids should be initiated as immediat...
...on 3.3Patients who have been taking other...
...ation 3.4Evidence remains insufficient to recomme...
Recommendation 3.5Evidence remains in...
...3.6For patients with a substance use disord...
...ommendation 4Clinicians should proactively off...
...tion 5.1For patients with renal impairment cur...
...ommendation 5.2For patients with re...
...endations 6.1In patients receiving o...
...ommendation 6.2Evidence remains insufficient...
...ion 7Opioid rotation should be offered t...
...evention and Management of Opioid-Induced Adve...