Does Pain Processing Alter After Opioid Discontinuation?

Changes in pain processing occur in healthy men who received a short-term application of a potent opioid, reveals a new study.

Discontinuation of remifentanil, a potent, short-acting synthetic opioid analgesic drug brings about changes in pain processing in healthy men.

The research provides a plausible mechanism underlying increased pain sensitivity after discontinuation of opioid medication.

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‘Brain and spinal cord play a major role in regulating pain and opioids can sometimes increase sensitivity to pain.’

The imaging study of the brain and spinal cord was published in Journal of Neuroscience.

Opioids are known to inhibit pain, but it is increasingly recognized that they can also increase sensitivity to pain in certain situations.

Dr. Sprenger and colleagues investigated changes in the brain and the spinal cord after application of the potent opioid remifentanil corresponding to increased sensitivity to heat pain stimuli applied to the forearm of healthy male adults.

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Functional magnetic resonance imaging found altered signaling in a network that connects frontal brain regions via the brainstem with the spinal cord that has a crucial role in regulating pain.

Since remifentanil has a very short half-life and was mostly cleared from the blood when the changes occurred, these results cannot be attributed to direct effects of the drug.

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Instead, they indicate altered pain processing in the central nervous system subsequent to opioid application.

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Source-Eurekalert