Peer Reviewed
Feature Article Pain medicine
Alternatives to injectable opioids for acute analgesia
Abstract
Acute pain relief similar or superior to that provided by injectable opioids can be obtained from noninjectable opioids or other pharmacological and non-pharmacological means.
Key Points
- General practitioners manage the majority of patients with acute pain in the community.
- After a full clinical assessment, patients with acute pain should receive a multimodal management plan to control the acute pain and reduce recurrence or development of chronic pain.
- Opioids may form part of this plan if the pain is moderate to severe and not relieved by other measures.
- There are noninjectable alternatives to injectable opioids, and these are at least as efficacious, better tolerated and less addictive.
- Of the injectable opioids, pethidine is the least reliably efficacious and the most toxic, most prone to drug interactions and most addictive, and so should be avoided.
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