European journal of pain : EJP
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Effects of TENS in living kidney donors submitted to open nephrectomy: A randomized placebo-controlled trial.
Pain is a negative factor in the recovery process of postoperative patients. It causes pulmonary alterations and complications, and it also affects functional capacity. Several studies have investigated the effects of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) during the postoperative period. However, no studies have assessed the effects of TENS on kidney donors. Thus, the aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of TENS on pain, walking function, respiratory muscle strength and vital capacity in kidney donors. ⋯ These results suggest that TENS decreases pain intensity at rest and during respiratory manoeuvres and increases maximal expiratory pressure during the postoperative period in kidney donors after open nephrectomy.
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Chronic pain is the most common and disabling feature of endometriosis. Surgical excision of endometriosis lesions provides relief but pain relapse is common. Studies in a preclinical model of endometriosis might help to unravel the role of the ectopic lesions as the source of pain. Thus, we evaluated the impact of lesion excision on mechanical hyperalgesia in a preclinical model of endometriosis pain. ⋯ In this preclinical model, we demonstrate that endometriosis pain is alleviated by surgical excision of the ectopic lesion or drainage of its cysts, providing support for the clinical observation that endometriosis pain is dependent upon the ongoing presence of the lesions.
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Pain prevalence studies are important as they illustrate the magnitude of pain problems in a certain patient population, such as patients living with a spinal cord injury (SCI). Strikingly, reported pain prevalence rates in SCI patients are found to vary greatly, while determinants for the differences between pain prevalence reports remain unclear. We here aim to identify determinants for the differences (heterogeneity) in pain prevalence reports through a systematic review of all SCI pain prevalence reporting studies. ⋯ While correcting for these items, population characteristics correlating with pain prevalence rates were both proportion of patients with a depression and average time after injury (positive correlations). Between-study heterogeneity may remain even after the identification/correction of above-mentioned causes of heterogeneity. Pain after SCI does seem to relate to the duration of the injury and depression, yet major causes of bias in reported pain prevalence are found to be related to the primary study goal (pain study or not), choice of pain definition and the use of retrospective data.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Out of sight, but not out of mind? Greater reported pain in patients who spontaneously look away during venepuncture.
Various external factors can influence patients' experiences of noxious stimuli, but little is known of how patients' natural behaviour may be relevant. We ascertained how often patients spontaneously look or look away during venepuncture and associated reports of pain during a previously reported experimental randomized study. The study was conducted in the outpatient department of a U.K. district general hospital. ⋯ Almost three quarters of patients spontaneously look away during venepuncture, but their pain ratings are almost twice that of the quarter of patients who look. It is unclear why this may be, but previous experimental studies indicate that observing the body when a noxious stimulus is applied can have an analgesic effect.