CONNECT WITH US
HealthTech

HealthTech

Years of opioid use do not improve chronic back pain, study finds

Medical Xpress logo

Published on

Add as a preferred source on Google
Years of opioid use do not improve chronic back pain, study finds

This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

Taking opioids for years does not seem to reduce pain or improve functioning in people with chronic back pain, according to a new Northwestern University study that compared 70 long-term opioid users with 70 similar patients not taking opioids.

The study also found large differences in brain activity between the two groups and identified new molecular markers, including some involving serotonin receptors, that could lead to new treatments for pain and for tapering off opioids.

Based on these findings, the Northwestern scientists plan to test whether an antidepressant, which targets the same serotonin molecular pathway identified in the study, can help treat chronic pain and opioid dependence.

The study, published Oct. 1 in the journal Brain, comes with an important nuance. Even though the opioid group didn't fare better, it also wasn't much worse off.

"The psychological and brain properties of the participants on long-term prescription opiates were essentially intact," said senior study author A. Vania Apkarian, director of the Center for Translational Pain Research at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

"That's good news because there's this fear nowadays that as soon as you start ingesting opiates, your brain is going to go crazy, and it doesn't," Apkarian said.



Source link
Related Topics:HealthTech

Disclaimer

We strive to uphold the highest ethical standards in all of our reporting and coverage. We TheMorningPulse.fyi want to be transparent with our readers about any potential conflicts of interest that may arise in our work. It's possible that some of the investors we feature may have connections to other businesses, including competitors or companies we write about. However, we want to assure our readers that this will not have any impact on the integrity or impartiality of our reporting. We are committed to delivering accurate, unbiased news and information to our audience, and we will continue to uphold our ethics and principles in all of our work. Thank you for your trust and support.