Pain
-
The Graded Chronic Pain Scale (GCPS) was originally developed to grade the severity of chronic pain conditions in adults. A revised version of this instrument (ie, GCPS-R) has been developed for use with adults to account for advances in pain metrics and new operational definitions of chronic pain and high-impact chronic pain. The purpose of the current study was to adapt the GCPS-R for use with pediatric samples (P-GCPS-R) and evaluate the adapted measure's concurrent validity. ⋯ Participants with bothersome chronic pain and high-impact chronic pain reported worse physical health, more anxiety and depressive symptoms, pain catastrophizing, and activity limitations than those with mild chronic pain. Participants with high-impact chronic pain reported more activity limitations than those with bothersome chronic pain. The findings support the concurrent validity of the P-GCPS-R for use with pediatric samples.
-
Neurotoxicity of chemotherapeutics involves peculiar alterations in the structure and function, including abnormal nerve signal transmission, of both the peripheral and central nervous system. The lack of effective pharmacological approaches to prevent chemotherapy-induced neurotoxicity necessitates the identification of innovative therapies. Recent evidence suggests that repeated treatment with the pentacyclic pyridoindole derivative DDD-028 can exert both pain-relieving and glial modulatory effects in mice with paclitaxel-induced neuropathy. ⋯ Histopathology evidence indicated that DDD-028 was able to counteract effectively paclitaxel-induced peripheral neurotoxicity by protecting against the loss of intraepidermal nerve fibers, restoring physiological levels of neurofilament in nerve tissue and plasma, and preventing morphological alterations occurring in the sciatic nerves and dorsal root ganglia. Overall, DDD-028 is more effective than pregabalin in preventing chemotherapy-induced neurotoxicity. Thus, based on its potent antihyperalgesic and neuroprotective efficacy, DDD-028 seems to be a viable prophylactic medication to limit the development of neuropathies consequent to chemotherapy.