Anesthesiology
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Novel 10-kHz High-frequency Therapy (HF10 Therapy) Is Superior to Traditional Low-frequency Spinal Cord Stimulation for the Treatment of Chronic Back and Leg Pain: The SENZA-RCT Randomized Controlled Trial.
Current treatments for chronic pain have limited effectiveness and commonly known side effects. Given the prevalence and burden of intractable pain, additional therapeutic approaches are desired. Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) delivered at 10 kHz (as in HF10 therapy) may provide pain relief without the paresthesias typical of traditional low-frequency SCS. The objective of this randomized, parallel-arm, noninferiority study was to compare long-term safety and efficacy of SCS therapies in patients with back and leg pain. ⋯ HF10 therapy promises to substantially impact the management of back and leg pain with broad applicability to patients, physicians, and payers.
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Neosaxitoxin (NeoSTX) is a site-1 sodium channel blocker undergoing clinical trials as a prolonged-duration local anesthetic. Rat sciatic block and intravenous infusion models were used to assess efficacy and local and systemic toxicities for NeoSTX in saline (NeoSTX-Saline), bupivacaine (Bup), and their combination (NeoSTX-Bup). Exploratory studies evaluated the effects of addition of epinephrine to NeoSTX-Bup (NeoSTX-Bup-Epi). ⋯ NeoSTX-Bup and NeoSTX-Bup-Epi hold promise for prolonged-duration local anesthesia.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Psychiatric Comorbidity Is Associated Prospectively with Diminished Opioid Analgesia and Increased Opioid Misuse in Patients with Chronic Low Back Pain.
Opioids are frequently prescribed for chronic low back pain (CLBP), but there are little prospective data on which patient subgroups may benefit. Psychiatric comorbidity, such as high levels of depression and anxiety symptoms (termed comorbid negative affect [NA]), is a common presentation and may predict diminished opioid analgesia and/or increased opioid misuse. ⋯ These results indicate that the benefit and risk considerations in CLBP patients with high NA versus low NA are distinctly different. Thus, NA is an important phenotypic variable to characterize at baseline, before deciding whether to prescribe opioids for CLBP.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
A Phase 1, Dose-escalation, Double-blind, Block-randomized, Controlled Trial of Safety and Efficacy of Neosaxitoxin Alone and in Combination with 0.2% Bupivacaine, with and without Epinephrine, for Cutaneous Anesthesia.
Neosaxitoxin (NeoSTX) is a site-1 sodium channel blocker that produces prolonged local anesthesia in animals and humans. Under a Food and Drug Administration-approved phase 1 Investigational New Drug trial, the authors evaluated safety and efficacy of NeoSTX alone and combined with 0.2% bupivacaine (Bup) with and without epinephrine. ⋯ NeoSTX combinations have a tolerable side effect profile and appear promising for prolonged local anesthesia.