British journal of anaesthesia
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Emerging data highlights the potential role of cyclooxygenase (COX) inhibitors in the primary prevention of malignancy, reducing metastatic spread and improving overall mortality. Despite nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) forming a key component of the WHO analgesic ladder, their use in cancer pain management remains relatively low. This review re-appraises the current evidence regarding the efficacy of COX inhibitors as analgesics in cancer pain, providing a succinct resource to aid clinicians' decision making when determining treatment strategies. ⋯ Despite the renewed interest in these cost-effective, well-established medications in cancer treatment outcomes, there is a paucity of data from the past 15 yr regarding their efficacy in cancer pain management. However, when analgesic strategies in the cancer population are being formulated, it is important that the potential benefits of this class of drug are considered. Further work investigating the role of NSAIDs in cancer pain management is undoubtedly warranted.
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The study of rare families with inherited pain insensitivity can identify new human-validated analgesic drug targets. Here, a 66-yr-old female presented with nil requirement for postoperative analgesia after a normally painful orthopaedic hand surgery (trapeziectomy). Further investigations revealed a lifelong history of painless injuries, such as frequent cuts and burns, which were observed to heal quickly. ⋯ The genetic findings and elevated circulating fatty-acid amides are consistent with a phenotype resulting from enhanced endocannabinoid signalling and a loss of function of FAAH. Our results highlight previously unknown complexity at the FAAH genomic locus involving the expression of FAAH-OUT, a novel pseudogene and long non-coding RNA. These data suggest new routes to develop FAAH-based analgesia by targeting of FAAH-OUT, which could significantly improve the treatment of postoperative pain and potentially chronic pain and anxiety disorders.
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Previous studies have found widespread pain processing alterations in the brain in chronic low back pain (cLBP) patients. We aimed to (1) identify brain regions showing altered amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) using MRI and use these regions to discriminate cLBP patients from healthy controls (HCs) and (2) identify brain regions that are sensitive to cLBP pain intensity changes. ⋯ Brain low-frequency oscillations in the PCL, SMA, PoG, PrG, and ACC may be associated with the neuropathology of cLBP. Low-frequency oscillations in the insula, amygdala, hippocampal/parahippocampal gyrus, thalamus, and DMN are sensitive to manoeuvre-induced spontaneous back pain intensity changes.
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Comparative Study
Measurement of relative lung perfusion with electrical impedance and positron emission tomography: an experimental comparative study.
Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) with indicator dilution may be clinically useful to measure relative lung perfusion, but there is limited information on the performance of this technique. ⋯ The agreement between EIT and PET for measuring and tracking changes of relative lung perfusion was satisfactory for clinical purposes. Indicator-based EIT may prove useful for measuring pulmonary perfusion at bedside.
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Cardiac output (Q˙) monitoring can support the management of high-risk surgical patients, but the pulmonary artery catheterisation required by the current 'gold standard'-bolus thermodilution (Q˙T)-has the potential to cause life-threatening complications. We present a novel noninvasive and fully automated method that uses the inspired sinewave technique to continuously monitor cardiac output (Q˙IST). ⋯ The inspired sinewave technique provides continuous and noninvasive monitoring of cardiac output, with a 'marginal-good' trending ability compared with cardiac output based on thermodilution. However, the trending ability can be reduced with increasing shunt fraction, such as in acute lung injury.