Review of the effect of opioid-related side effects on the undertreatment of moderate to severe chronic non-cancer pain: tapentadol, a step toward a solution?

Abstract

The pervasiveness of opioid-associated side effects and concerns related to tolerance, dependence, and addiction present potential barriers to the approval and use of opioids for the management of chronic non-cancer pain. The lower incidence of opioid-associated adverse events and possibly fewer withdrawal symptoms, combined with a satisfactory analgesic profile associated with tapentadol, suggest its potential utility for the management of chronic non-cancer pain. This review will focus on the incidence of opioid-related side effects and barriers to opioid therapy that are available as English-language articles in the MEDLINE index, and as such, it is a representative but not an exhaustive review of the current literature.

Oral Tapentadol as a premedication for the perioperative management of cardiac surgery

“…Though the number of side effects is much higher than what we had encountered but as our study group comprises of 25 subjects we did not register much side effects. The reason may also be good drug profile 25 .…”

Tapentadol for Multimodal Pain Management

“…21 This finding led the researchers to propose a potential role for tapentadol in the treatment of chronic (persistent) pain.…”

Risks associated with drug treatments for kidney stones

“…Unfortunately, opioids can cause a number of unpleasant side effects. Most common effects include gastrointestinal (nausea, vomiting, constipation) and central nervous system (drowsiness, hypotension and respiratory depression) 89 .…”