Methadone for pain management: Past, present and future

Srini CharyIndian Journal of Palliative Care 2018 24(5):6-9Methadone for pain management in this article describes briefly pain, methadone as a Level 3 World Health Organization ladder opioid in the context of India and rest of the world, as well as the relationship to past, present, and future possibilities of pain management. Acute pain is proportional to the injury most of the times, and such proportionality may not exist in chronic pain. Pain management over decades has changed because of knowledge and availability of molecules and compounds to reduce chronic pain. Naturally occurring opioids from “poppy” such as morphine and heroin were available through cultivation and trade for pain management and recreational use in different parts of the world for centuries. Methadone has been a synthetic molecule discovered in the 1930s in Germany. It has been used for harm reduction for opioid use disorder in the form of “methadone maintenance treatment”. This program exists since the 1950s while pain management started around the late 1970s in Europe and North America. More recently, the knowledge of acute and chronic pain at a molecular level, including ion channel modification, allowed the use of coanalgesics and opioids prudently. The concept of “total pain, neuroplasticity, and neurotransmitters” how they could be modified for better pain management with pharmaceuticals and nonpharmacological methods...

Source: Indian Journal of Palliative Care - January 16, 2018 Category: Palliative Care Authors: Srini Chary Source Type: research