Tapentadol For Pain
$8.00
Universal Activity Number: 407-000-11-051-H01-T
CEUs 0.1
Audience: Pharmacy Technicians
Activity Type: Knowledge-based
Issued date: 02/01/2011
Expiration date: 02/01/2014
Submit your answers by clicking here
completed purchase is required to receive the corresponding CEUs.
CEUs 0.1
Audience: Pharmacy Technicians
Activity Type: Knowledge-based
Issued date: 02/01/2011
Expiration date: 02/01/2014
Submit your answers by clicking here
completed purchase is required to receive the corresponding CEUs.
Article title:
Tapentadol: A Novel, Centrally Acting Analgesic for Moderate-to-Severe Acute Pain
Goal
To provide the reader with information pertaining to the role of tapentadol in acute pain management, with an emphasis on its efficacy, adverse effects, contraindications,
and dosing.
and dosing.
Objectives
Upon completion of this CE article, the reader will be able to:
- Describe the pharmacology and pharmacokinetics of tapentadol in comparison to other analgesics.
- Discuss data from clinical trials that evaluate the use of tapentadol in acute pain management.
- Identify patient-specific factors that should be evaluated when considering the use of tapentadol for acute pain management.
- Identify common adverse effects associated with the use of tapentadol.
Abstract
Objective: To review the role of tapentadol in the treatment of moderate-to-severe acute pain.
Data Sources: Primary literature was retrieved by searching MEDLINE (1950-August Week 3, 2010), EMBASE (1980-Week 34, 2010), International Pharmaceutical Abstracts (1970-August 2010), and Google Scholar, A bibliographic review of published articles was also performed. Search terms included tapentadol,
Nucynta, and acute pain.
Study Selection and Data Extraction: Randomized controlled trials available in the English language that evaluated the efficacy and/or safety of tapentadol were included in this review.
Data Synthesis: Tapentadol is a centrally acting analgesic that simultaneously activates μ-opioid receptors and inhibits the reuptake of norepinephrine in the central nervous system without affecting serotonin reuptake. We identified 6 randomized controlled trials that evaluated the use of tapentadol in over 3,000 adult patients in various acute pain models. Tapentadol was found to be superior to placebo for the management of moderate-to-severe acute pain and was found to be noninferior to oxycodone in the setting of post-bunionectomy pain and acute pain related to end-stage joint disease. Although the incidence of somnolence and dizziness was similar to that of oxycodone, tapentadol was less likely to cause nausea, vomiting, or constipation.
Conclusions: Tapentadol is a novel analgesic with dual mechanisms of action that appears to be safe and
effective for the management of moderate-to-severe acute pain. Future studies should focus on comparative
efficacy as well as the role of tapentadol in chronic pain.
J Pharm Technol 2011;27:27-34.