Journal of pain research
-
Journal of pain research · Jan 2012
Repeat-dose steady-state pharmacokinetic evaluation of once-daily hydromorphone extended-release (OROS(®) hydromorphone ER) in patients with chronic pain.
To characterize the steady-state pharmacokinetic profile of hydromorphone extended-release (ER) in patients with chronic pain taking concomitant medications. ⋯ These findings replicate and extend the steady-state pharmacokinetic profile of hydromorphone ER, previously characterized in healthy volunteers, to a population of chronic pain patients taking numerous concomitant medications.
-
Journal of pain research · Jan 2012
Patients with persistent pain after breast cancer surgery show both delayed and enhanced cortical stimulus processing.
Women who undergo breast cancer surgery have a high risk of developing persistent pain. We investigated brain processing of painful stimuli using electroencephalograms (EEG) to identify event-related potentials (ERPs) in patients with persistent pain after breast cancer treatment. ⋯ These results show that treatment and persistent pain have opposite effects on cortical responsiveness.
-
Journal of pain research · Jan 2012
Radiation dose reduction in CT-guided sacroiliac joint injections to levels of pulsed fluoroscopy: a comparative study with technical considerations.
The sacroiliac (SI) joint is frequently the primary source of low back pain. Over the past decades, a number of different SI injection techniques have been used in its diagnosis and therapy. Despite the concerns regarding exposure to radiation, image-guided injection techniques are the preferred method to achieve safe and precise intra-articular needle placement. The following study presents a comparison of radiation doses, calculated for fluoroscopy and CT-guided SI joint injections in standard and low-dose protocol and presents the technical possibility of CT-guidance with maximum radiation dose reduction to levels of fluoroscopic-guidance for a precise intra-articular injection technique. ⋯ Radiation dose of CT-guided SI joint injections can be decreased to levels of pulsed fluoroscopy with a precise intra-articular needle placement using the low-dose protocol. The technique is simple to perform, fast, and reproducible.
-
Journal of pain research · Jan 2012
Intensive interdisciplinary outpatient pain management program for chronic back pain: a pilot study.
Chronic back pain is relatively resistant to unimodal therapy regimes. The aim of this study was to introduce and evaluate the short-term outcome of a three-week intensive multidisciplinary outpatient program for patients with back pain and sciatica, measured according to decrease of functional impairment and pain. ⋯ This paper describes the organization and short-term outcome of an intensive multidisciplinary program for chronic back pain on an outpatient basis provided by our orthopedic department, with clinically significant results.
-
Surgical injury can frequently lead to chronic pain. Despite the obvious importance of this problem, the first publications on chronic pain after surgery as a general topic appeared only a decade ago. This study tests the hypothesis that chronic postsurgical pain was, and still is, represented insufficiently. ⋯ Chronic postsurgical pain is still a neglected topic, except for pain after herniorrhaphy. The change in the attitude toward chronic postsurgical pain is the important first step in the approach to this problem.