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Chronic opioid therapy and opioid tolerance: a new hypothesis.

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Date
2013
Author
Goldberg, Joel S
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Abstract
Opioids are efficacious and cost-effective analgesics, but tolerance limits their effectiveness. This paper does not present any new clinical or experimental data but demonstrates that there exist ascending sensory pathways that contain few opioid receptors. These pathways are located by brain PET scans and spinal cord autoradiography. These nonopioid ascending pathways include portions of the ventral spinal thalamic tract originating in Rexed layers VI-VIII, thalamocortical fibers that project to the primary somatosensory cortex (S1), and possibly a midline dorsal column visceral pathway. One hypothesis is that opioid tolerance and opioid-induced hyperalgesia may be caused by homeostatic upregulation during opioid exposure of nonopioid-dependent ascending pain pathways. Upregulation of sensory pathways is not a new concept and has been demonstrated in individuals impaired with deafness or blindness. A second hypothesis is that adjuvant nonopioid therapies may inhibit ascending nonopioid-dependent pathways and support the clinical observations that monotherapy with opioids usually fails. The uniqueness of opioid tolerance compared to tolerance associated with other central nervous system medications and lack of tolerance from excess hormone production is discussed. Experimental work that could prove or disprove the concepts as well as flaws in the concepts is discussed.
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Journal article
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https://hdl.handle.net/10161/10354
Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1155/2013/407504
Publication Info
Goldberg, Joel S (2013). Chronic opioid therapy and opioid tolerance: a new hypothesis. Pain Res Treat, 2013. pp. 407504. 10.1155/2013/407504. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/10354.
This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
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Scholars@Duke

Joel Steven Goldberg

Adjunct Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology
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