Fox 9 Twin Cities
by Jeff Baillon

Jessica A. Fenske has spent a lifetime in and out of hospitals…Despite relying on opioid painkillers for over a decade, she has never abused them. Carl White broke his back, twice…His exposure to opioids led to a full-blown addiction…Researchers at the Mayo Clinic are trying to figure out why some patients are able to take painkillers for a brief period and stop while others stay on them long term and some fall into the quagmire of addictive behavior. “What we hope to have is a nice model that may help us explain which patients are at risk,” said Dr. Michael Hooten of the Mayo Clinic.

Reach:  FOX 9 News broadcasts in Minneapolis-St.Paul, the 16th largest television market in the United States with 1.7 million TV homes.

Context: W. Michael Hooten, M.D. is a Mayo Clinic anesthesiologist and psychiatrist. Dr. Hooten's clinical research relates to chronic pain with a specific focus on changes in pain thresholds and tolerances following opioid tapering; the genomics of chronic pain; and the effects of smoking on treatment outcomes of chronic pain. You can read and view more interviews with Dr. Hooten on Mayo Clinic News Network.

Contact: Sharon Theimer

Tags: Dr. W. Michael Hooten, FOX 9 Twin Cities, pain management, Uncategorized