European journal of pain : EJP
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No data are available on the prevalence and predictors of (high-dose) long-term opioid therapy (LTOT) and on abuse/addiction of prescribed opioids by patients with chronic non-cancer pain (CNCP) outside North America and Scandinavia. ⋯ The study found no signals of an 'opioid epidemic' in Germany. However, careful selection of patients with CNCP considered for LTOT and continuous evaluation during LTOT are warranted.
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There were several reports suggesting α-adrenoceptor antagonists are effective to treat neuropathic pain. The aims of this study were as follows: (1) to introduce drug delivery system for dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons; (2) to elucidate the effects of α-adrenoceptor antagonists in acute, subacute or chronic phase and (3) to determine which subtype of adrenoceptor was mainly involved. ⋯ This study showed α-adrenoceptor antagonists could suppress pain behaviour via α2-adrenoceptor in acute phase and temporary attenuate pain behaviour in chronic phase. These findings presented potentials sympathetic nerve blockade contributed to treat neuropathic pain.
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Chronic pelvic pain (CPP) is a high burden for patients and society. It affects 15-24% of women in reproductive age and is an area of high unmet medical need. CPP can be caused by a wide range of visceral diseases such as abdominal infections, gastrointestinal or gynaecological diseases like endometriosis. Despite the high medical need for this condition, pharmacological approaches are hampered by the limited number of available methods for the behavioural evaluation of pain in inflammation-driven animal models of pelvic pain. ⋯ This study described for the first time the use of DWB as a non-subjective and non-reflexive method for the evaluation of inflammatory-driven abdominal pain in a mouse model.
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Observational Study
Acute pain Factors predictive of post-operative pain and opioid requirement in multimodal analgesia following knee replacement.
Despite the development of multimodal analgesia for postoperative pain management, opioids are still required for effective pain relief after knee arthroplasty. We aimed to identify the determinants of post-operative pain intensity and post-operative opioid requirement in this context. ⋯ Our findings suggest that clinicians could use the pre-operative pain profile, in terms of anxiety levels, neuropathic pain symptoms, and chronic pre-operative pain intensity, to improve the efficacy of pain management after knee surgery.