A Path to Personalized Pain Treatment? | Pain Research Forum

Opioids are in crisis. Many physicians and patients say that the medications can be used responsibly to treat chronic pain. Yet experts also warn that prescriptions are out of control and fueling an epidemic of abuse, overdose, and death. Government agencies have responded with tighter regulations, but investigators say the only real solution is to identify the most suitable candidates for opioid treatment: those patients most likely to experience effective analgesia with minimal adverse consequences. In a recent paper, a panel of prominent pain researchers and clinicians outlines a research agenda for achieving personalized opioid prescribing. Central to that plan is a call for large, long-term observational studies aimed at finding associations between patient characteristics and treatment outcomes. In particular, the panel zeroes in on "practice-based evidence" (PBE), an approach that depends on registry systems that log comprehensive information about large numbers of patients over the course of routine care. After collecting an abundance of data, researchers can comb through the information for factors that associate with outcomes. "There's a raging question: Who are the people who benefit from long-term opioid therapy?" said Charles Inturrisi, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, US, who has launched a registry study that is seen as a pilot project for practice-based studies in pain. "Some people would argue, no one. Some woul...
Source: Psychology of Pain - Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Source Type: blogs