Oct-Nov 2012

Confusion between methadone and other medications with lookalike names can cause life-threatening errors.

Lynn Webster, MD, President-elect of the American Academy of Pain Medicine (AAPM) talks about the petition submitted to the FDA by Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing (PROP) and the AAPM response; the current dialogue on the risks and benefits of prescription opioids for managing chronic noncancer pain; and the future of pain management.

Recently, a group calling itself Physicians for the Responsible Opioid Prescribing proposed several radical changes to the way we treat patients with chronic noncancer pain, calling for limits on the dose and duration of opioid treatment that would in effect deny these medications to the majority of patients now receiving them for noncancer pain.

Brief summaries of recently launched clinical trials for post-operative pain, low back pain, pelvic pain, migraine, and other forms of chronic pain.

News on new therapies for osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, prescription drug monitoring programs, post-operative opioid use, the cost of chronic pain, and other developments in the field of pain management.

News on opioid REMS, chronic pain apps, opioid safety in hospitals, and other developments in the field of pain management.

The variety of mechanisms that play a part in pathologic pain perception leads to a great deal of complexity and variation in the clinical presentation and severity of fibromyalgia symptoms, as well as a high degree of variability in patient response to treatment.