Health Psychology Research / HPR / Volume 9 / Issue 1 / DOI: 10.52965/​001c.27241
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GENERAL

Buprenorphine for Chronic Pain: A Safer Alternative to Traditional  Opioids 

Suhani Dalal1 ,  Ahish Chitneni1 ,  Amnon A. Berger2 ,  Vwaire Orhurhu3 ,  Bilal Dar4 ,  Bennett Kramer5 ,  Anvinh Nguyen6 ,  John Pruit6 ,  Charles Halsted6 ,  Alan D. Kaye7 ,  Jamal Hasoon8*
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1 Department of Anesthesiology, A.T. Still University School of Medicine
2 Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School
3 Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
4 Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School
5 Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School
6 Department of Anesthesiology, Baylor College of Medicine
7 Department of Anesthesia and Pain Management, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center
8 Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School; Department of Anesthesiology, Baylor College of Medicine
HPR 2021 , 9(1), 1; https://doi.org/10.52965/​001c.27241
Submitted: 15 July 2021 | Accepted: 30 July 2021 | Published: 5 August 2021
© 2021 by the Author(s). Licensee Health Psychology Research, USA. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution -Noncommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0) ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ )
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Abstract

With the ongoing public health crisis with prescription opioids, there is a need for safer alternatives for medication management in chronic pain patients. Buprenorphine is a partial mu-opioid agonist which is commonly utilized to treat patients with opioid-use disorders. The purpose of this review is to discuss the potential use of this medication for the treatment of chronic pain instead of resorting to more traditional Schedule II opioids. Buprenorphine offers a safer alternative for patients who require opioids to manage chronic pain, given the unique pharmacological properties that allow it to provide adequate analgesia with less abuse potential.

Keywords
analgesics
opioids
chronic pain
buprenorphine
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Conflict of interest
The authors declare they have no competing interests.
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