The Untold Story of the Opioid Crisis: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Patients with Life-Limiting Complications of Opioid Addiction (TH365)

According to the CDC, in 2016, 62,632 Americans died from drug overdose, with 66% of these deaths related to opioid use. Even with the media's increased attention to the opioid crisis, the stories of patients with recurrent medical complications of addiction remain untold. Medically, these patients are at high risk for recurrent, life-threatening infections, such as endocarditis. Potential survival may entail multiple major surgeries. Surgeons may be reluctant to provide these surgeries, and when surgery is provided, patients suffer post-operative pain that is challenging to control because of patients' opioid tolerance, a challenge compounded when the time comes to transition to outpatient plans for pain management.
Source: Journal of Pain and Symptom Management - Category: Palliative Care Authors: Source Type: research