The Genetic Science Learning Center at University of Utah developed an excellent animation depicting the mechanisms of addiction of most drugs of abuse. They use a cartoon-like approach to show biochemical changes in mouse brains.… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Pain drug therapy
How to survive your first night on call: PowerPoint presentation
This PowerPoint presentation has great suggestions and tips on how to handle a night on call. It is specially useful for junior physicians and covers real-life clinical situations you may encounter.… Continue Reading
Video lecture on the management of neuropathic and cancer pain
Mark Wallace, M.D., Director of UCSD’s Center for Pain & Palliative Medicine, updates on current therapies for pain, focusing on neuropathic pain. Overview of pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic management of chronic pain.… Continue Reading
Pregabalin (Lyrica) not approved for fibromyalgia by the EMEA
EMEA didn’t approve treatment of fibromyalgia as a new indication for pregabalin (Lyrica).The CHMP was concerned that the benefits of Lyrica in fibromyalgia had not been shown in either the short or the long term.… Continue Reading
Rubefacients for acute and chronic pain. Podcast review by The Cochrane Collaboration
Andrew Moore, from the Nuffield Department of Anaesthetics at the University of Oxford, discusses the available evidence on the use of rubefacients for acute and chronic pain.… Continue Reading
NSAIDs: PowerPoint presentations
This set of lectures intends to overview the most relevant points in NSAIDs pharmacology. Troughout the post, some points are repeated. These are key concepts to remember, such as: mechanism of action, indications, some chemical characteristics and side effects profile (mainly renal and gastrointestinal).… Continue Reading
Recommendations and guidelines on prescribing methadone for chronic pain
Methadone has been traditionally used as a drug to treat heroine addiction. In the last few years, it has gained importance as an agent in the treatment of chronic pain. As a result of this, the US Food and Drug administration has started a campaign to raise awareness about the potential risks of using methadone… Continue Reading
PPT lectures on opioids: mechanism of action, pharmacological effects and more
PPT lectures on opioids: mechanism of action in analgesia (mu, kappa and delta receptors), pharmacological effects of morphine and antagonists.… Continue Reading
FDA video warning about local anesthetics side effects
Local anesthetics side effects are covered in the March 2009 edition of FDA’s Patient Safety News. The agency’s concern is that after a study published in the the journal Radiology in which the authors suggest the use of topical anesthetics to reduce disconfort during mammography, more and more women will start using them without being… Continue Reading
Drugs for migraine prophylaxis. Which is your choice?
Review of drugs indicated in migraine prophylaxis: beta-adrenergic blockers, calcium channel blockers and tricyclic antidepressants. Clinical guidelines on migraine management. … Continue Reading
Updated SIGN clinical guideline: Pain management in adults with cancer
The Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) updated a clinical guideline entitled “Control of pain in adults with cancer”. An outline of the contents (drug therapy related) in this guideline for the treatment of cancer induced pain include: Principles of pain management: introduction, World Health Organization cancer pain relief programme, using the WHO ladder. Treatment with… Continue Reading
2009 updated guideline: “Use of chronic opioid therapy in chronic noncancer pain”. Download full text
2009 version of “Guidelines on the use of opioids in treating chronic noncancer pain”. Published in The Journal of Pain. Download free full text… Continue Reading
Intravenous and inhalational anesthetics, MCQs for test review
I believe some of the questions ( developed by the UMKC School of Medicine) in this set would be more suitable for an anesthesiologist or anesthesia resident than for a medical student in the pre-clinical years. However, most of them are regular questions from classic pharmacology textbooks. I hope you find them useful. Item Number: correct answer: 2 category: Anesthetics 1. All of the following factors… Continue Reading
Analgesics (opioids, nsaids): MCQs for pharmacology review
These questions have been created by the Department of Pharmacology, UMKC School of Medicine. The use I suggest is to review your knowledge of the subject for USMLE or other pharma test. Did you find them useful? Too hard ? Too easy? Use the comment form to comment what did you think of them! Item Number: 1684 correct answer: 5 category: Analgesics 1. A child has ingested an unknown substance and has evidence of respiratory depression.… Continue Reading
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