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Heroin Addiction and Related Clinical Problems: 2009, 11, 1 (pages: 31 - 34)

A 10-Year Evaluation of Chronic Pain Patients Treated with Opioids

Tennant F.

Summary: Over the past 15 years laws and guidelines have been widely promulgated to allow physicians to prescribe opioids for severe, chronic pain patients who have non-malignant conditions. To date little is known about the outcomes of long-term opioid pain therapy. Reported here is an evaluation of 24 patients with non-malignant conditions who have been in continual opioid treatment for at least 10 years. Data collected indicates that some chronic pain patients greatly benefit from long-term opioid therapy. Almost all (22 of 24: 91.7%) patients report that their pain has permanently decreased over time, and the great majority (20 of 24: 83.3%) believe that opioids continue to relieve their pain as well as when treatment was initiated. All patients report they can now do a variety of activities and physical functions they could not do prior to opioid therapy. The major complications of opioid therapy detected to date are hormonal abnormalities which can be easily managed with replacement therapy.