RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Methadone: applied pharmacology and use as adjunctive treatment in chronic pain JF Postgraduate Medical Journal JO Postgrad Med J FD The Fellowship of Postgraduate Medicine SP 654 OP 659 DO 10.1136/pgmj.2004.022988 VO 80 IS 949 A1 Brown, R A1 Kraus, C A1 Fleming, M A1 Reddy, S YR 2004 UL http://pmj.bmj.com/content/80/949/654.abstract AB This article reviews the unique pharmacological properties of methadone and outlines its appropriate clinical application, with focus upon its use in the treatment of chronic pain. Although methadone is most widely known for its use in the treatment of opioid dependence, methadone also provides effective analgesia. Patients who experience inadequate pain relief or intolerable side effects with other opioids or who suffer from neuropathic pain may benefit from a transition to methadone as their analgesic agent. Adverse effects, particularly respiratory depression and death, make a fundamental knowledge of methadone’s pharmacological properties essential to the provider considering methadone as analgesic therapy for a patient with chronic pain.