The Clinical journal of pain
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Acupuncture during labor can reduce the use of meperidine: a controlled clinical study.
To evaluate the effectiveness of acupuncture as an analgesic during labor. ⋯ Acupuncture during labor reduced the requirement for other painkillers and has high patient satisfaction in this randomized, unblinded, controlled study.
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Analgesic drug development as currently undertaken is limited by a number of factors that contribute to the paucity of new analgesics introduced into clinical practice despite marked advances in delineating of the molecular-genetic mechanisms contributing to acute and chronic pain. The participants in this workshop explored the unmet need in analgesia and recommended strategies for enhancing analgesic drug development in the future. The workshop concluded that translating scientific advances into improved pain relief will require new thinking and a cooperative effort among the pharmaceutical industry, regulatory agencies, funding agencies, the biomedical research community, professional societies and clinicians. The workshop also recommended that a better understanding of the epidemiology of pain could contribute to improvement in clinical trial methodology and outcome measures.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
The cholecystokinin antagonist proglumide enhances the analgesic effect of dihydrocodeine.
To investigate the potential pro-analgesic effect of the non-specific CCK antagonist proglumide on the analgesia produced by dihydrocodeine. ⋯ The CCK antagonist proglumide enhances the analgesic effect of dihydrocodeine.
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The treatment of pain during pregnancy other than that of labor is a clinical issue that has not been addressed in a systematic manner. ⋯ Experience in women seeking recovery from opioids and their newborns illustrates that opioids are an effective and safe pharmacological option for the treatment of pain during pregnancy. Controlled studies are needed to expand knowledge in this clinical area.
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Sex differences in the response threshold to painful stimuli and the higher number of chronic pain syndromes in women than in men have prompted a series of studies on lower animals and humans aimed at clarifying the role of gonadal hormones in pain. ⋯ This article examines the morphologic and functional aspects of gonadal hormone systems and the relations between gonadal hormones and pain circuits, to identify areas deserving of increased attention in elucidating the endocrine mechanisms that contribute to abnormal pain states.