Journal of pain research
-
Journal of pain research · Jan 2017
Case ReportsA case report of complex auricular neuralgia treated with the great auricular nerve and facet blocks.
The great auricular nerve is a cutaneous branch of the cervical plexus originating from the C2 and C3 spinal nerves. It innervates the skin over the external ear, the angle of the mandible and the parotid gland. It communicates with the ansa cervicalis. Great auricular neuralgia is rarely diagnosed in clinical practice and can be refractory. We present a new approach using ultrasound-guided nerve blocks. ⋯ Great auricular neuralgia is not often encountered in practice and can be accompanied by symptoms originating from the ansa cervicalis network. A combined approach of nerve blocks can be considered in refractory cases.
-
Journal of pain research · Jan 2017
Effect of oxycodone patient-controlled intravenous analgesia after cesarean section: a randomized controlled study.
Oxycodone is a semisynthetic μ-opioid receptor agonist with a potentially good analgesic efficacy in visceral pain. This study aims to compare the efficacy of oxycodone with sufentanil patient-controlled intravenous analgesia (PCIA). ⋯ Oxycodone PCIA may be more effective than sufentanil PCIA for pain relief after cesarean section but the incidence of side effects needs further investigation.
-
Journal of pain research · Jan 2017
Cognitive effects of electro-acupuncture and pregabalin in a trigeminal neuralgia rat model induced by cobra venom.
The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of electro-acupuncture (EA) and pregabalin on cognition impairment induced by chronic trigeminal neuralgia (TN) in rats. ⋯ EA and pregabalin could alleviate TN induced by cobra venom. EA could also inhibit the cognition deficit induced by TN, while pregabalin could not.
-
Journal of pain research · Jan 2017
Evidence of both systemic inflammation and neuroinflammation in fibromyalgia patients, as assessed by a multiplex protein panel applied to the cerebrospinal fluid and to plasma.
In addition to central hyperexcitability and impaired top-down modulation, chronic inflammation probably plays a role in the pathophysiology of fibromyalgia (FM). Indeed, on the basis of both animal experiments and human studies involving the analysis of cytokines and other inflammation-related proteins in different body fluids, neuroinflammatory mechanisms are considered to be central to the pathophysiology of many chronic pain conditions. However, concerning FM, previous human plasma/serum and/or cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) cytokine studies have looked only at a few predetermined cytokine candidates. ⋯ In addition, previous findings concerning IL-8 in FM were replicated, in both CSF and plasma. This is the first time that such an extensive inflammatory profile has been described for FM patients. Hence, FM seems to be characterized by objective biochemical alterations, and the lingering characterization of its mechanisms as essentially idiopathic or even psychogenic should be seen as definitively outdated.
-
Journal of pain research · Jan 2017
Forced exercise attenuates neuropathic pain in chronic constriction injury of male rat: an investigation of oxidative stress and inflammation.
Initial peripheral/central nerve injuries, such as chronic constriction injury (CCI)/spinal cord injury, are often compounded by secondary mechanisms, including inflammation and oxidative stress, which may lead to chronic neuropathic pain characterized by hyperalgesia or allodynia. On the other hand, exercise as a behavioral and non-pharmacological treatment has been shown to alleviate chronic neuropathic pain. Therefore, this study was conducted to examine whether or not exercise reduces neuropathic pain through modifying oxidative stress and inflammation in chronic constriction injury of the sciatic nerve. ⋯ Post CCI-exercise but not pre CCI-exercise reduces CCI-induced neuropathic pain. One of the possible involved mechanisms is increasing the total antioxidant capacity and reducing the amount of TNF-α.