PainWeek 2013

Urine drug testing (UDT) can be an important tool in risk evaluation and mitigation strategies (REMS) when used in a patient-centered fashion and it is done “for the patient” rather than “to the patient,” said Howard A. Heit, MD to attendees at PAINWeek 2013.

If acute pain caused by a damaged peripheral nerve is not cured within six weeks the pain will centralize and a patient will be stuck with it for life, Forest Tennant, MD, DrPH told attendees at PAINWeek 2013.

Multiple inflammatory markers should simultaneously be tested to best detect unresolved inflammation in pain patients according to results presented at PAINWeek 2013 from a study conducted by pain specialist Forest Tennant, MD, DrPH.

Medicinal cannabis is legal in 20 states, but its illegality under federal law stops many physicians in those states from prescribing it, said Michael E. Schatman, PhD, Executive Director of the Foundation for Ethics in Pain Care at PAINWeek 2013.

Contributions to the disease of addiction are 50% genetic and 50% environmental; however, it is not biology vs environment; rather, “they act together to produce the addiction behavioral phenotype,” said Sanford M. Silverman, MD at PAINWeek 2013.

An investigational oral formulation of extended-release (ER) oxycodone/acetaminophen (MNK-795) has significantly lower measures of drug liking, drug high, and good drug effects if the medication is tampered with than comparable doses of Percocet, based on study findings presented at PAINWeek 2013.

Work-ups of pain patients with insomnia should include assessments of the analgesics the patients are taking as well as their comorbidities, especially psychological issues, Michael T. Smith, PhD told attendees at PAINWeek 2013.

Neuroimaging brain-based biomarkers may help practitioners objectively identify acute and chronic pain states in the future, Sean Mackey, MD, PhD told attendees of PAINWeek 2013.

Medicinal cannabis is a better choice than opioids when standard first-line pain medications have failed to relieve chronic pain, according to a presentation given by Gregory T. Carter, MD, MS at PAINWeek 2013.

Quantitative sensory testing can help identify pain mechanisms by revealing individual differences in pain, and show case-control differences in pain processing, and can be used to sub-group patients, said Roger B. Fillingim, PhD at PAINWeek 2013.