Opioid Therapy for Chronic Nonmaliganat Pain

Abstract

While acute pain is reasonably considered a symptom of disease or injury, chronic pain is a specific healthcare related problem as a disease in its own right. Even though the use of opioids in the management of chronic cancer pain has been growing, the chronic use of opioid medication for nonmalignant pain is still controversial. Most reports suggest that chronic opioid therapy can be effective for the reduction of chronic pain and for the improvement of function and health related quality of life. On the other hand, opioids are also associated with potentially serious harm including pharmacologic adverse effects and socio-economic problems such as abuse, addiction, and diversion. And there has been little evidence based background regarding long-term effectiveness. Although evidence is limited in the management of chronic nonmalignant pain, there are no adequate guidelines for the prescription of opioids in Korea. Hopefully, new guidelines should be developed as soon as possible to provide mechanism based and personalized medicine for carefully selected and monitored patients with chronic nonmalignant pain.

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