Buprenorphine for pain relief in a patient with drug abuse.

Buprenorphine is a mixed opioid agonist/antagonist which appears to produce less physical dependence and respiratory depression than typical mu-agonist opioids. These effects suggest its use for analgesia for drug abusers. However, buprenorphine may precipitate withdrawal from other opioids. The present case illustrates the utility of buprenorphine and describes a method to transfer a patient from a mu-agonist to buprenorphine without precipitating withdrawal or interrupting analgesia.