Crystal Wong, MD

To illustrate his point, Mr. Adler compared abuse-deterrent opioids with the advances in safety technology in the motor vehicle industry.

“Interdisciplinary approaches should not be viewed as a treatment pathway on which to embark after other interventions have failed; rather, it should be the framework employed from the start of care,” said Dr Prasad.

Today, chronic pain specialists face the dilemma of how to treat a patient’s pain appropriately without feeding the opioid overuse epidemic.