[8] Sufentanil offers properties of sedation and can be used as analgesic component of anesthetic regimen during an operation.

It is also used in surgery and post-operative pain control in people that are taking high dose buprenorphine for chronic pain because it has the potency and binding affinity strong enough to displace buprenorphine from the opioid receptors in the central nervous system and provide analgesia.

[10] In 2018, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Dsuvia, a sublingual tablet form of the drug, that was developed in a collaboration between AcelRx Pharmaceuticals and the United States Department of Defense for use in battlefield settings where intravenous (IV) treatments may not be readily available.

[11] The decision to approve this new potent synthetic opioid came under criticism from politicians and from the chair of the FDA advisory committee, who fear that the tablets will be easily diverted to the illegal drug market.

As for all other opioid-based medications, naloxone (trade name Narcan) is the definitive antidote for overdose.