Der Schmerz
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We report 8 in-patients with nonmalignant chronic pain (main diagnosis: 7 somatoform pain disorders, 1 eating disorder) and with abuse of opioid therapy, which we have treated within 2 years in an tertiary centre. In all patients the inefficacy of opioids with regard to pain symptomatology could be demonstrated. Because the ICD-10 criteria of addiction cannot be fully applied to patients under opioid therapy because of chronic pain we suggest as criteria the intake of opioids because of positive psychotropic effects, the demand of high dosage of short acting opioids with inefficacy of similar long acting opioids dosage, the uncontrolled raising of dosage with illegal procurement and reluctance of the patient to stop opioid therapy because of proved inefficacy of pain control. ⋯ Therefore a qualified psychotherapeutic evaluation before starting an opioid therapy for nonmalignant pain in order to exclude a somatoform pain disorder or to assess a substance dependency is mandatory. Patients with somatoform pain disorder should be treated with opioids only in clinical studies. A prior or present history of substance abuse given chronic opioid therapy for nonmalignant pain should only be performed in close cooperation of addiction- and pain therapists.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
[Lack of pre-emptive analgesic effect of low-dose ketamine in postoperative patients. A prospective, randomised double-blind study].
NMDA receptors are assumed to play an important role for neuronal plasticity. In vitro and animal experiments confirmed that NMDA antagonistic drugs can prevent hyperexitability of dorsal root neurons after strong pain stimuli. Clinical data, however, are more or less controversial in this respect. ⋯ Cumulative PCA piritramide consumption after 24 hours was 25.0+/-16.2 mg in the ketamine group and 29.5+/-20.4 mg in the placebo group. Ketamine-specific side effects such as hallucinations or bad dreams were not observed. It is concluded that under the study conditions used, low dose ketamine, contrary to previously reported results [30], does not provide a clinically relevant pre-emptive analgesic effect in postoperative patients.
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Gabapentin, which has been approved for add-on therapy of focal seizures, is increasingly used for treatment of neuropathic pain. Its analgesic effect is supposed to be due to reduction of glutamatergic transmission, improvement of GABAergic transmission and to binding to voltage-dependent calcium channels. Experimental studies demonstrated an ameliorating effect of gabapentin on neuropathic pain. ⋯ Case reports show an analgesic effect of gabapentin in trigeminus neuralgia and in reflex sympathetic dystrophy. The main adverse events are dizziness, ataxia and somnolence. Controlled studies, which compare the efficacy of gabapentin with that of the respective reference drug, are needed to evaluate its importance in treatment of pain.
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Comparative Study
[Effects of recommendations and patient seminars on effectivity of outpatient treatment for headache].
Treatment of patients suffering from migraine and/or tension-type headache in primary care needs to be improved. To this purpose we tested two strategies for implementation of evidence-based recommendations for treatment of headaches: first, communication of recommendations to the primary care physicians and, second, standardized communication and discussion of these recommendations with patients in combination with exercising of progressive muscle relaxation during patient seminars. ⋯ Effectivity of headache treatment in primary health care could not be improved by communication of evidence-based recommended therapy to primary care physicians nor by direct information of patients about these recommendations in combination with provided availability to learn progressive muscle relaxation.
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The German regulations for opioid prescriptions have been changed in February 1998. The regulations have been made much more easier and should therefore have improved the pain management in Germany. We investigated the knowledge of the WHO analgesic ladder and how they have been followed in a nation-wide survey among physicians not specialised in pain management. ⋯ A negative pain management index in 15% of the patients gave evidence of poor quality in pain management. The majority of patients (84%) did not receive immediate release analgesics for the treatment of breakthrough pain. Continuous medical education is still necessary before a further alleviation of regulations will help to reduce the undertreatment of patients suffering from cancer pain in Germany.