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Indications for Opioid Antagonists

  • Other Pain (N Vadivelu and A Kaye, Section Editors)
  • Published:
Current Pain and Headache Reports Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose of Review

As opioids have become more common in clinical practice for the treatment of both acute and chronic pain, so too has the need for a deeper understanding of the clinical applications of opioid antagonists. The purpose of this review is to present both the longstanding and potential new indications for the use of drugs that block the effects of opioid receptors.

Recent Findings

There is a growing body of data demonstrating the modulation of pain by opioid antagonists. Additional clinical studies that show their direct antinociceptive effects and/or enhancement of the analgesic potency of opioid agonists are warranted.

Summary

We briefly discuss the well-established role that these agents play in the reversal of life-threatening opioid toxicity and explore both existing and expanding clinical applications, including their apparent paradox that they may themselves be associated with analgesia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 75 Francis Street, Boston, MA, 02115, USA

    O. J. Michael Coppes & Christine N. Sang

  2. Translational Pain Research, Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 75 Francis Street, Boston, MA, 02115, USA

    Christine N. Sang

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  1. O. J. Michael Coppes
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Correspondence to Christine N. Sang.

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No specific funding was required for this work. Drs. Coppes and Sang report no disclosures that are relevant to this report.

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Other Pain

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Coppes, O.J.M., Sang, C.N. Indications for Opioid Antagonists. Curr Pain Headache Rep 21, 30 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11916-017-0630-z

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