European journal of pain : EJP
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In this study, 54 patients suffering from chronic cervicobrachialgia (mean pain duration 7 years) were treated with radiofrequency lesioning of the cervical spinal dorsal root ganglion (RF-DRG). The aim of the study was to investigate whether psychological variables would be predictive for the changes in pain intensity after medical treatment. ⋯ The level of catastrophizing before treatment appeared to predict 10% of the changes in pain intensity after treatment. Changes in pain intensity after RF-DRG were positively correlated with changes in psychosocial dysfunction and negative self-efficacy.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
No effect of preoperative paracetamol and codeine suppositories for pain after termination of pregnancies in general anaesthesia.
Outpatient surgery demands rapid recovery and satisfied patients. The purpose of the study was to investigate whether rectal premedication with paracetamol and codeine would reduce the need of rescue analgesics, reduce the postoperative pain experience and result in faster eligibility for discharge. Ninety pregnant patients scheduled for day-case surgery with evacuation of the uterine cavity were randomly assigned into two groups. ⋯ The paracetamol and codeine patients were significantly more sleepy at 30 min postoperatively. There were no differences between the groups in postoperative nausea or vomiting and no difference in discharge eligibility. The use of pre-operative suppository with paracetamol 800 mg and codeine 60 mg is unnecessary in this group of patients.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Citalopram in patients with fibromyalgia--a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study.
The effect of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor citalopram was studied in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, 4-month trial in patients with the fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) who all fulfilled the American College of Rheumatology criteria. The citalopram doses varied between 20-40 mg daily. Forty female patients, 21 patients in the citalopram and 19 in the placebo group, participated. ⋯ After 4 months, however, the effect had diminished. Measured with the FIQ, significant differences in the pain ratings were seen at the end of the trial. Significant effects on the depressive symptomatology measured by means of the MADRS were seen already after 1 month of treatment and were increasing further at the end of the trial, when a significant difference between the groups was also found.
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Using a computer version of the emotional stroop task, it was investigated whether chronic pain patients display an involuntary attentional shift towards pain-related information (sensory, affective pain words and injury related words). Multiple regression analyses were used to investigate which pain and psychosocial variables (pain severity, pain-related fear, pain catastrophizing and negative affect) were predictive of attentional bias. ⋯ No other attentional effects were found. The results are discussed in terms of possible reasons for the difficulty of demonstrating attentional bias in chronic pain patients.
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Clinical Trial
The symptom check-list, SCL-90-R: its use and characteristics in chronic pain patients.
The SCL-90-R is a widely-used questionnaire for self-report of psychological distress and multiple aspects of psychopathology, as part of the evaluation of chronic pain patients and other non-psychiatric populations. The aim of this study is the presentation of clinical results of this multidimensional questionnaire in a convenience sample of 3540 chronic pain patients treated in a multidisciplinary pain centre. ⋯ It is shown that the 9 dimensions postulated by Derogatis et al. (1977 a) cannot at all be distinguished in chronic pain patients. The use of single subscores of the SCL-90-R, often employed as a screening instrument for specific diagnoses, such as depression, is at least questionable in chronic pain patients.