Uses
Oxymorphone is indicated for the relief of moderate to severe pain and also as a preoperative medication to alleviate apprehension, maintain anesthesia, and as an obstetric analgesic. Additionally, it can be used for the alleviation of pain in patients with dyspnea associated with acute left ventricular failure and pulmonary oedema.
Opana extended-release tablets are indicated for the management of chronic pain of all or most aetiologies and are indicated only for patients already on a regular schedule of strong opioids for a prolonged period. The immediate-release Opana tablets are recommended for management of breakthrough pain for patients on the extended-release version. Some protocols for chronic pain conditions characterised by severe breakthrough pain incidents add Numorphan ampoules as a third form of the drug for use when a breakthrough pain incident is in progress. An oxymorphone nasal spray is being developed for this purpose but the release date is unknown; some practitioners prefer fentanyl immediate-release formulations such as Actiq or Fentora for this purpose although some patients have severe side effects from fentanyl.
Oxymorphone is used in veterinary medicine in many of the same uses as for humans, with induction and maintenance of anaesthetia and sometimes tranquillisation of small and medium-sized animals being the most common use. Morphine, hydromorphone, fentanyl and butorphanol are also common in veterinary settings and tramadol is now often used as an analgesic for cats, dogs, ferrets, rats and other small animals.
Oxymorphone is mentioned, along with buprenorphine, oxycodone, dihydrocodeine, morphine and other opioids as a possible means of mitigating refractory depression. Opioids were commonly used for this indication up until the introduction of the tricyclic antidepressants in the 1950s, even though the latter appear to work in a smaller percentage of cases and are generally more toxic than most chemical classes of opioids. Conversely, tricyclic anti-depressants and chemically related drugs are the most commonly used adjuvants and atypical analgesics used with opioids for pain, especially neuropathic pain.
Read more about this topic: Oxymorphone