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2023 JUN 3 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Obesity, Fitness & Wellness Week -- Investigators publish new report on Opioids. According to news originating from Kansas [...]

2022 JAN 1 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Obesity, Fitness & Wellness Week -- Fresh data on Cannabinoids - Cannabidiol are presented in a new report. [...]

2020 MAY 23 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Obesity, Fitness & Wellness Week -- Investigators publish new report on Drugs and Therapies - Pharmacology. According to [...]

2020 MAY 16 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Obesity, Fitness & Wellness Week -- Data detailed on have been presented. According to news originating from Bloomington, [...]

2020 MAY 16 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Obesity, Fitness & Wellness Week -- Investigators publish new report on Opioids. According to news reporting originating from [...]

We have shown previously that the administration of morphine (0.8 mg/kg) to patients with COPD increases the V[O.sub.2]max by 19.3 percent. A recent study demonstrated that the administration of low-dose [...]

Pain in children after surgery is frequently relieved by injections of opioid drugs, such as morphine or meperidine (demerol), but the experience of the injection is often anxiety-producing for young patients. Previous studies with adult surgical patients have revealed that administering analgesics (pain killers) during surgery, diminishes the patient's pain and need for pain medication later. To explore the postoperative analgesic effectiveness of administering methadone during surgery, 35 pediatric patients were studied after undergoing major surgery. (Methadone belongs to the same drug class as morphine.) The children were randomly assigned to receive (intravenously) either morphine or methadone after they had been anesthetized, but before the surgical incision was made. The same drug was given in the recovery room (intravenously) and postoperatively (by injection) as needed. The children, aged three to seven years, were asked to rate their pain during the next 36 hours using several standardized pain rating scales (which are described in the report). Results showed that children who received methadone required fewer supplemental doses of medication for pain control over the next 36 hours than patients who received morphine. In addition, methadone was associated with lower pain scores on the rating scales. No differences in side effects (appetite, time spent sleeping, vomiting) were noted between the groups. Suggestions are presented for calculating the appropriate doses of methadone for children. The results, which should be verified by subsequent research, indicate that methadone, given at the time of major surgery, leads to greater comfort for a longer period than morphine. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Severe pain following surgery in children and teenagers is usually treated with morphine or similar medications. These drugs are usually administered by periodic intramuscular (IM) injections, which may result in fluctuating drug levels and cycles of comfort and pain. In addition to discontinuous pain relief, frequent injections are likely to distress children and may lead to underreporting of pain. Injections into intravenous catheters or continuous intravenous infusions are also associated with difficulties, and individual differences in opioid (morphine-like drugs) metabolism may still cause excessive sedation or inadequate analgesia. Patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) is a new technique in which patients choose when analgesics are given by activating a computer-operated pump, which is programmed to prevent overdosing. This technique may provide physiologic and psychologic advantages in pain control. Preliminary studies indicate that PCA may be as effective in children as adults, but many aspects of the technique have not been rigorously studied. Pain control was evaluated after major orthopedic surgery in 26 children given IM morphine, 32 children given morphine by PCA, and 27 children given morphine by PCA plus a continuous low-dose infusion. The average patient age was 13 to 14 years. Both PCA and PCA-plus provided significantly better pain control than IM morphine. There was no difference in the amount of morphine received by each group, although females received more than males. Patients who received PCA-plus were significantly less sedated, and patients receiving either PCA-plus or PCA had no difference in opioid-related side effects. PCA-plus patients were significantly more satisfied than patients in the other two groups. The study indicates that PCA and PCA-plus methods of analgesia delivery are safe and effective in children and adolescents. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Clinical question For patients with a suspected diagnosis of acute renal colic, does combination intravenous (IV) ketorolac and morphine provide better analgesia than either agent alone? Article chosen Safdar B, [...]

Allan L, Hays H, Jensen N, et al. Randomized crossover trial of transdermal fentanyl and sustained release oral morphine for treating chronic non-cancer pain. BMJ 2001; 322:1154. * BACKGROUND Recent [...]

Abstract Objective To compare the effectiveness of nasal diamorphine spray with intramuscular morphine for analgesia in children and teenagers with acute pain due to a clinical fracture, and to describe […]

Unstable angina is frequently encountered by general practitioners and cardiovascular specialists. In the United States, of the 2.5 million patients admitted to hospital every year with suspected acute coronary syndromes, [...]

Abstract Objectives To investigate the cost effectiveness of intravenous ketorolac compared with intravenous morphine in relieving pain after blunt limb injury in an accident and emergency department. Design Double blind, [...]

Ketorolac is more effective, cheaper, and has fewer side effects Morphine, titrated intravenously, is the gold standard analgesic for severe pain in emergencies. It is effective and cheap. But morphine [...]

Use of opioid substances is an important means of controlling moderate to severe cancer-related pain. Opioids, such as controlled-release oral morphine sulfate (MS Contin tablets, MSC) taken every 12 hours, have proven to be more effective than conventional oral morphine, which is usually administered every four hours. Physicians are often reluctant to administer adequate doses of MSC because they fear the possibility of overdosing patients, which may lead to unacceptable side effects (e.g., nausea, drowsiness, confusion, constipation, vomiting). In most cases, guidelines for the establishment of 'adequate doses' do not exist. Several clinical trials, using MSC for cancer pain, are currently being conducted to establish more precise dosing guidelines. Preliminary results show that MSC dosing guidelines employed by researchers achieved total or satisfactory pain relief in about 75 percent of the patients, without causing significant side effects. Researchers who speculate that it is possible to safely administer slightly higher concentrations of MSC in order to achieve even greater levels of pain relief advocate the use of precise dosing guidelines and frequent contact between patients and physicians.

CHICAGO -- Australian and American dementia patients in some nursing homes are benefiting from some nontraditional pharmacotherapy. In the United States, a synthetic tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) compound called dronabinol has been [...]

NEW ORLEANS -- Extended-release, once-daily morphine capsules improved the quality of sleep among patients with chronic, moderate to severe osteoarthritis pain, Dr. Jacques R. Caldwell reported at the annual meeting [...]

Background: Preterm neonates are exposed to multiple painful procedures after birth and exhibit acute physiological responses to pain. Occurrence of early intraventricular hemorrhage within 24 to 72 hours after birth suggests a role of pain and stress in the multifactorial causation of severe intraventricular hemorrhage and periventricular leukomalacia. We proposed that such neurologic outcomes in preterm neonates who require ventilatory support may be reduced by morphine analgesia or midazolam sedation compared with a placebo. Objectives: To define the incidence of clinical outcomes in the target study population, to estimate the effect size and adverse effects associated with analgesia and sedation, and to calculate the sample size for a definitive test of this hypothesis. Methods: Sixty-seven preterm neonates were randomized in a pilot clinical trial from 9 centers. Neonates of 24 to 32 weeks' gestation were eligible if they had been intubated and required ventilatory support for less than 8 hours and if they were enrolled within 72 hours after birth. Exclusion criteria included major congenital anomalies, severe intrapartum asphyxia, and participation in other research studies. Severity of illness was assessed by the Clinical Risk Index for Babies, and neonates were randomized to receive continuous infusions of morphine sulfate, midazolam hydrochloride, or 10% dextrose (placebo). Masked study medications were continued as long as clinically necessary, then weaned and stopped according to predefined criteria. Levels of sedation (COMFORT scores) and responses to pain (Premature Infant Pain Profile scores) were measured before, during, and 12 hours after discontinuation of drug infusion. Cranial ultrasound examinations were performed as part of routine practice, and poor neurologic outcomes were defined as neonatal death, severe intraventricular hemorrhage (grade III or IV), or periventricular leukomalacia. Results: No significant differences occurred in the demographic, clinical, and socioeconomic variables related to mothers and neonates in the 3 groups or in the severity of illness at birth as measured by Clinical Risk Index for Babies scores. Two neonates in the placebo group and 1 neonate in the midazolam group died; no deaths occurred in the morphine group. Poor neurologic outcomes occurred in 24% of neonates in the placebo group, 32% in the midazolam group, and 4% in the morphine group (likelihood ratio [chi square] = 7.04, P = .03). Secondary clinical outcomes and neurobehavioral outcomes at 36 weeks' postconceptional age were similar in the 3 groups. Responses elicited by endotracheal tube suction (Premature Infant Pain Profile scores) were significantly reduced during the morphine (P [is greater than] .001) and midazolam (P = .002) infusions compared with the placebo group. Conclusions: This pilot trial suggests that preemptive analgesia given by continuous low-dose morphine infusion may reduce the incidence of poor neurologic outcomes in preterm neonates who require ventilatory support. Limitations in the sample size of this pilot study suggest that these results should be confirmed in a large multicenter randomized trial. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 1999;153:331-338, Low-dose morphine to control pain may reduce the risk of intraventricular hemorrhage and periventricular leukomalacia in premature newborn infants who require a ventilator. Pain and the physiological changes associated with it may increase the risk of neurological complications, such as bleeding in the brain, in newborn infants. Researchers assigned 77 preterm, ventilated infants to maintenance doses of morphine, midazolam, or dextrose. Neurological complications developed in 24% of infants receiving dextrose, which has no effect on pain; 32% of infants receiving midazolam for sedation, and 4% of infants receiving the narcotic morphine.