American Pain Society 2011

Fentanyl sublingual (SL) spray demonstrated statistically significant improvements in breakthrough cancer pain relief as early as 5 minutes compared with placebo, investigators reported during the American Pain Society’s 30th Annual Scientific Meeting.

Approximately half of patients treated for acute, painful muscle spasm responded to cyclobenzaprine extended-release with little to no drowsiness, challenging the common medical belief that sedation is integral to efficacy of skeletal muscle relaxants, as reported today during the American Pain Society’s 30th Annual Scientific Meeting.

A literature review to determine comparative effectiveness of dosage forms of rapid-onset opioids used to treat cancer-related breakthrough pain (BTP) identified a a gap in knowledge regarding this pharmacotherapy, according to information presented at the American Pain Society’s 30th Annual Scientific Meeting.

Current treatment options do not adequately address chronic chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy, leading to investigations of both cellular mechanisms and newer therapeutic modalities, according to research reported upon during the American Pain Society’s 30th Annual Scientific Meeting.

In patients who have undergone a bunionectomy, both oxycodone 5mg/niacin 30mg and oxycodone 7.5mg/niacin 30mg were efficacious and generally provided more rapid analgesic onset than placebo in relieving moderate-to-severe pain, according to results of a study presented during American Pain Society’s 30th Annual Scientific Meeting.

Fibromyalgia patients treated with pregabalin showed improvements in measure of sleep efficiency and quality and also reported reduced pain, according to results of a study presented at the American Pain Society’s 30th Annual Scientific Meeting.

Once-daily hydromorphone ER (OROS) and twice-daily oxycodone CR maintain efficacy through 52 weeks of follow-up for the treatment of chronic non-cancer pain, as demonstrated by clinical study data presented at the American Pain Society’s 30th Annual Scientific Meeting.

Maximizing acute pain relief while minimizing the incidence of adverse events prevents the evolution of acute postoperative pain into chronic pain.

Patients with chronic pain and comorbid substance use disorders need more intensive and supplementary treatment to gain clinically significant improvements in pain-related function, according to a systematic review reported upon during the American Pain Society’s 30th Annual Scientific Meeting.

Arash Nafissi, DO, and colleagues of Hospital for Joint Disease, New York University, report that placing a topical Lidoderm patch provides an effective adjunct treatment in post-operative pain management. Results were presented at the American Pain Society’s 30th Annual Scientific Meeting.