Opioid Prescribing
Authors: Laxmaiah Manchikanti, Frank J.E. Falco, Joshua A. Hirsch
Journal: Annals of Internal Medicine (2014)

Letters20 May 2014Opioid PrescribingLaxmaiah Manchikanti, MD, Frank J.E. Falco, MD, and Joshua A. Hirsch, MDLaxmaiah Manchikanti, MDFrom Pain Management Center of Paducah, Paducah, Kentucky; Temple University, Philadelphia, Philadelphia; and Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.Search for more papers by this author, Frank J.E. Falco, MDFrom Pain Management Center of Paducah, Paducah, Kentucky; Temple University, Philadelphia, Philadelphia; and Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.Search for more papers by this author, and Joshua A. Hirsch, MDFrom Pain Management Center of Paducah, Paducah, Kentucky; Temple University, Philadelphia, Philadelphia; and Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.Search for more papers by this authorAuthor, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/L14-5010 SectionsAboutFull TextPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail TO THE EDITOR:Nuckols and colleagues’ systematic review and critical appraisal of guidelines for the use of opioids for chronic pain (1) is problematic in that it may not meet the criteria of evidence-based medicine and suffers from issues of professionalism. Nuckols and colleagues included guidelines that raise concerns about bias, specifically those from the American Pain Society and the American Academy of Pain Medicine (APS-AAPM) (2), which barely met inclusion criteria because they were published in 2009 (that is, the literature search ended in October 2008, so these guidelines were 5 years old when this review was published).Evidence-based ...References1. Nuckols TK, Anderson L, Popescu I, Diamant AL, Doyle B, Di Capua P, et al. Opioid prescribing: a systematic review and critical appraisal of guidelines for chronic pain. Ann Intern Med. 2014;160:38-47. [PMID: 24217469] LinkGoogle Scholar2. Chou R, Fanciullo GJ, Fine PG, Adler JA, Ballantyne JC, Davies P, et al; American Pain Society-American Academy of Pain Medicine Opioids Guidelines Panel. Clinical guidelines for the use of chronic opioid therapy in chronic noncancer pain. J Pain. 2009;10:113-30. [PMID: 19187889] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar3. Chou R, Huffman L. Guideline for the Use of Chronic Opioid Therapy in Chronic Noncancer Pain: Evidence Review. Glenview, IL: American Pain Soc; 2009. Google Scholar4. Manchikanti L, Benyamin RM, Falco FJ, Caraway DL, Datta S, Hirsch JA. Guidelines warfare over interventional techniques: is there a lack of discourse or straw man? Pain Physician. 2012;15:E1-E26. [PMID: 22270745] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar5. Manchikanti L, Falco FJ, Singh V, Benyamin RM, Racz GB, Helm S, et al. An update of comprehensive evidence-based guidelines for interventional techniques in chronic spinal pain. Part I: introduction and general considerations. Pain Physician. 2013;16:S1-48. [PMID: 23615882] MedlineGoogle Scholar Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAuthors: Laxmaiah Manchikanti, MD; Frank J.E. Falco, MD; Joshua A. Hirsch, MDAffiliations: From Pain Management Center of Paducah, Paducah, Kentucky; Temple University, Philadelphia, Philadelphia; and Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.Disclosures: Disclosures can be viewed at www.acponline.org/authors/icmje/ConflictOfInterestForms.do?msNum=L14-0115. PreviousarticleNextarticle Advertisement FiguresReferencesRelatedDetailsSee AlsoOpioid Prescribing: A Systematic Review and Critical Appraisal of Guidelines for Chronic Pain Teryl K. Nuckols , Laura Anderson , Ioana Popescu , Allison L. Diamant , Brian Doyle , Paul Di Capua , and Roger Chou Opioid Prescribing Teryl J. Nuckols and Roger Chou Metrics 20 May 2014Volume 160, Issue 10Page: 737KeywordsConflicts of interestDisclosureEvidence based medicineOpioidsSystematic reviews ePublished: 20 May 2014 Issue Published: 20 May 2014 Copyright & PermissionsCopyright © 2014 by American College of Physicians. All Rights Reserved.PDF downloadLoading ...