Clinical Use of Opioids

For the treatment of pain, opioids are the main analgesic approaches. Opioid therapy involves the use of either weak or strong opiates, and both are often prescribed in conjunction to adequately control acute pain. Strong opiates often have additional routes beyond oral administration. Poor understanding of opioids and concerns about governmental retaliation for prescribing opioids can lead to treatment failure. Desired goal in handling of patients with chronic pain is achieving and sustaining an acceptable quality-of-life. In this narrative review, we discuss classifying and clinical use of opioids.