A narrative review of buprenorphine in adult cancer pain.

A narrative review of buprenorphine in adult cancer pain. Expert Rev Clin Pharmacol. 2020 Sep 10;: Authors: Degnan M, Mousa SA Abstract INTRODUCTION: Adult cancer pain is a disease state battled on a global scale. Proper pain management is essential to prevent health complications and promote patient well-being. Due to the opioid misuse crisis in the United States, providers are looking for alternatives to traditional opioids used for adult cancer pain. Buprenorphine has multi-mechanistic interactions with opioid receptors mu and kappa and opioid receptor-like 1 and has a unique pharmacologic profile, allowing it to be delivered in non-invasive ways; thus, it offers an alternative to traditional options. Randomized controlled trials have shown improved pain scores with transdermal buprenorphine, and they showed reductions in pain scores and increased improvement in quality of life scores versus other opioids. Sublingual buprenorphine has more limited, but promising data for reducing cancer pain. AREAS COVERED: We provide a narrative review of pathophysiological pathways of pain in cancer, how they are treated, and the unique properties of buprenorphine. Guidelines addressing pain management during cancer treatment are assessed to identify buprenorphine's place in therapy. Recent literature reporting efficacy and safety of buprenorphine use in pain management during cancer treatment will be presented. EXPERT OPINION: C...
Source: Expert Review of Clinical Pharmacology - Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Tags: Expert Rev Clin Pharmacol Source Type: research