Study suggests non-opioid medications as pain relief alternatives in ERs
6 reported
A new review paper examined non-opioid medications available in the emergency department at San Francisco General Hospital and existing medical literature to identify which ones might provide pain relief. The study, led by Akash Shanmugam, a medical student at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), aims to create a targeted list for specific pain conditions to expand physicians' treatment options. The study provides recommendations for the most common types of pain in emergency departments: abdominal pain, back pain, chest pain, fracture pain, and headache. Common medications like acetaminophen and ibuprofen showed potential to relieve every type of pain examined, while other drugs had more targeted applications. Ketamine showed promise for chest pain, an SNRI antidepressant showed promise for back pain, and several antipsychotics showed promise for headache and abdominal pain. The authors emphasized that opioids still have a place in medicine but that alternatives are important due to concerns about addiction, overdose, and genetic variations in how people metabolize opioids.
What’s reported
The review paper examined non-opioid medications available at San Francisco General Hospital and existing medical literature.
The study was led by Akash Shanmugam, a medical student at UCSF, and Dr Kathy LeSaint, an associate professor of emergency medicine at UCSF.
The study covers recommendations for abdominal pain, back pain, chest pain, fracture pain, and headache.
Acetaminophen and ibuprofen showed potential to relieve every type of pain examined.
Ketamine showed promise for chest pain; an SNRI antidepressant for back pain; antipsychotics for headache and abdominal pain.
The authors stated that opioids still have a place in medicine but that alternatives are important due to addiction, overdose, and genetic variation in opioid metabolism.
Key figures
Akash Shanmugam, medical student at UCSF and first author on the study
Dr Kathy LeSaint, associate professor of emergency medicine at UCSF and co-author
Sources: The Guardian
