Are the medical needs for the treatment of acute pain fulfilled?

Many effective analgesic drugs are available for the relief of acute pain, but their clinical use is widely regarded as being inadequate. The reasons cited for this include concern about the adverse effects of opioids and also insufficient adjustment of therapy to the patient's needs. Non-opioid anal- gesics are the staple drugs for mild to moderate pain and are generally better tolerated than opioid drugs. Differences exist, however, among the non-opioid analgesics which affect the choice of drug for individual pa- tients and specific acutely painful conditions. In an associated symposium of the 7th International Symposium: The Pain Clinic, held in Istanbul, Turkey, the ways were discussed in which treatment with non-opioid analgesics can be tailored to meet the needs of individual patients with acute pain. The highlights of this Hoechst sympo- sium, emphasize the distinctions between the non-steroidal anti-inflamma- tory drugs, and the non-acidic antipyretic analgesics, particularly dipyrone. 9 Mechanisms of action of non-opioid analgesics Professor F. C. Tulunay, M.D. Ankara, Turkey The non-opioid analgesics are among the oldest class of synthetic drugs still in widespread clinical use. They can be divided into the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as acetylsalicylic acid, and the non-acidic, antipyretic analgesics, paracetamol and dipyrone. The pharma- cology of these various agents will be reviewed briefly.