The Clinical journal of pain
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Controlled Clinical Trial
Capsaicin or menthol sensitization induces quantitative but no qualitative changes to thermal and mechanical pain thresholds.
To analyze whether sensitization procedures employed in experimental human pain models introduce additional components to pain measurements resulting in a different kind of pain or whether they are limited to quantitative changes resulting in the same pain at higher intensity. ⋯ The main effect of sensitization by capsaicin or menthol application is a quantitative decrease in thermal and mechanical pain threshold with the methodologic benefit of decreasing the incidence of censored data. A qualitative change in pain thresholds by sensitization is not supported by the present statistical analysis at level of primary hyperalgesia.
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Opioids have been used for medicinal and analgesic purposes for centuries. However, their negative effects on the endocrine system, which have been known for some times, are barely discussed in modern medicine. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review of the impact of opioids on the endocrine system. ⋯ Opioid-induced hypogonadism seems to be a common complication of therapeutic or illicit opioid use. Patients on long-term opioid therapy should be prospectively monitored, and in cases of opioid-induced hypogonadism, we recommend nonopioid pain management, opioid rotation, or sex hormone supplementation after careful consideration of the risks and benefits.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Adjuvant therapy with intrathecal clonidine improves postoperative pain in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft.
Alpha2 adrenergic agonists have long been employed as analgesics and to sedate patients undergoing surgical procedures. In addition, their therapeutic response synergizes that elicited by opioids. Although this response is well known, the role of alpha2 agonists, such as clonidine, during various painful surgical procedures remains to be elucidated. The goal of our study was to evaluate the effects of the intrathecal administration of clonidine on postoperative pain control and time to extubation in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting. ⋯ Addition of clonidine to neuraxial opioids improves the quality of analgesia postoperatively and expedites the process of weaning from mechanical ventilation. There were no serious adverse events in the cohort of the patients studied. However, the safety profile of this medication remains to be examined with a larger group of patients.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
The pain quality response profile of oxymorphone extended release in the treatment of low back pain.
In controlled trials of analgesics, the primary outcome variable is most often a measure of global pain intensity. However, because pain is associated with a variety of pain sensations, the effects of analgesic treatments on different sensations could go undetected if specific pain qualities are not assessed. This study sought to evaluate the utility of assessing the multiple components of non-neuropathic pain in an analgesic clinical trial. ⋯ The results indicate that oxymorphone ER has different effects on different pain qualities of low back pain. The responsivity of the PQAS items and scales to the results of treatment with an effective and generally well-tolerated dose of an analgesic, and the ability of the PQAS items and scales to discriminate between an active analgesic and placebo, support their validity as outcome measures. The findings support the utility of using pain descriptor measures for (1) identifying the effects of pain treatments on different pain qualities and (2) targeting pain treatments to those patients who experience certain types of pain.
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The present study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of a 3-week multimodal inpatient pain program for children and adolescents with chronic pain. ⋯ Results of the study are promising in at least 2 ways: (1) a multimodal inpatient program might stop the negative effects of chronic pain, disability, and emotional distress in children and adolescents, and (2) the exploration of clinical significance testing has demonstrated utility and can be applied to future effectiveness studies in pediatric pain.