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 patients...
....2Prior to initiating opioid therapy...
...endation 2.1For patients who are candidates to beg...
...mmendation 2.2Clinicians with limited exper...
...on 3.1Opioids should be initiated at the lowest...
...3.2Opioids should be initiated as immed...
...commendation 3.3Patients who have been taking oth...
...ation 3.4Evidence remains insufficient to...
...tion 3.5Evidence remains insufficient...
...tion 3.6For patients with a substance use...
...endation 4Clinicians should proacti...
...n 5.1For patients with renal impairmen...
...5.2For patients with renal or hepatic impa...
...ndations 6.1In patients receiving op...
...ndation 6.2Evidence remains insufficient to...
...tion 7Opioid rotation should be offered...
...tion and Management of Opioid-Induc...