This discussion was recorded on August 31, 2022. This transcript has been edited for clarity.
Robert Glatter, MD: Welcome. I'm Dr Robert Glatter, medical advisor for Medscape Emergency Medicine. Today we have Dr Paul Christo, a pain specialist in the Division of Pain Medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland, and host of the national radio show Aches and Gains on SiriusXM Radio, joining us to discuss the ongoing and worsening fentanyl crisis in the US.
Welcome, Dr Christo.
Paul J. Christo, MD, MBA: Thanks so much for having me.
Glatter: I want to begin with a sobering statistic regarding overdoses. There were over 107,000 overdose deaths in the US from 2020 to 2021, of which over two thirds involved the synthetic opiate fentanyl, based on recent data from the CDC.
Let's start by having you explain how deadly fentanyl is in terms of its potency compared with morphine and heroin.
Christo: Fentanyl is considered a synthetic opioid. It's not a naturally occurring opioid like morphine, for example, or codeine. We use this drug, fentanyl, often in the anesthesiawell. We've used it for many years as an anesthetic for surgery very safely. In the chronic pain world, we've used it to help reduce chronic pain in the form of a patch.
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COMMENTARY
Could a Vaccine (and More) Fix the Fentanyl Crisis?
Robert Glatter, MD; Paul J. Christo, MD, MBA
DisclosuresSeptember 27, 2022
This discussion was recorded on August 31, 2022. This transcript has been edited for clarity.
Robert Glatter, MD: Welcome. I'm Dr Robert Glatter, medical advisor for Medscape Emergency Medicine. Today we have Dr Paul Christo, a pain specialist in the Division of Pain Medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland, and host of the national radio show Aches and Gains on SiriusXM Radio, joining us to discuss the ongoing and worsening fentanyl crisis in the US.
Welcome, Dr Christo.
Paul J. Christo, MD, MBA: Thanks so much for having me.
Glatter: I want to begin with a sobering statistic regarding overdoses. There were over 107,000 overdose deaths in the US from 2020 to 2021, of which over two thirds involved the synthetic opiate fentanyl, based on recent data from the CDC.
Let's start by having you explain how deadly fentanyl is in terms of its potency compared with morphine and heroin.
Christo: Fentanyl is considered a synthetic opioid. It's not a naturally occurring opioid like morphine, for example, or codeine. We use this drug, fentanyl, often in the anesthesiawell. We've used it for many years as an anesthetic for surgery very safely. In the chronic pain world, we've used it to help reduce chronic pain in the form of a patch.
Medscape Emergency Medicine © 2022 WebMD, LLC
Any views expressed above are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the views of WebMD or Medscape.
Cite this: Robert D. Glatter, Paul J. Christo. Could a Vaccine (and More) Fix the Fentanyl Crisis? - Medscape - Sep 27, 2022.
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Authors and Disclosures
Authors and Disclosures
Author(s)
Robert D. Glatter, MD
Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine, Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, New York, NY
Disclosure: Robert D. Glatter, MD, has disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
Paul J. Christo, MD, MBA
Associate Professor, Division of Pain Medicine, Department of Anesthesiology & Critical Care Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland; Host, Aches and Gains, SiriusXM
Disclosure: Paul J. Christo, MD, MBA, has disclosed no relevant financial relationships.