Journal of pain research
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Physician assistants (PAs), nurse practitioners (NPs), and registered nurses (RNs) provide professional services on pain management teams. This review provides an overview of the practical management of chronic pain with intrathecal (IT) therapy using an interprofessional approach (eg, physicians and other health care professionals), with a focus on the contributions of PAs, NPs, and RNs. ⋯ PAs, NPs, and RNs are valuable members of IT pain management teams. Treatment success requires ongoing monitoring of efficacy and adverse effects, with corresponding adjustments to medication selection and dosing, in addition to good communication among the health care professionals involved in patient care.
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Journal of pain research · Jan 2017
ReviewCalcitonin gene-related peptide receptor as a novel target for the management of people with episodic migraine: current evidence and safety profile of erenumab.
Migraine is a highly disabling neurological condition, and preventative treatment still remains problematic, due to aspecificity of the majority of the currently available prophylactic drugs. Calcitonin-gene-related peptide (CGRP) plays a crucial role in migraine pathophysiology; agents aimed at blocking its activity have, therefore, been developed in recent years, among which are monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against CGRP, to prevent migraine. Erenumab is the only mAb that targets the CGRP receptor instead of the ligand, with high specificity and affinity of binding. ⋯ A favorable safety profile was demonstrated by the lack of significant differences in the occurrence of adverse events in erenumab-treated vs placebo-treated patients. Global results so far obtained point to erenumab as a new promising candidate for the preventative treatment of episodic migraine. Licence applications for erenumab were recently submitted to the Food and Drug Administration in the USA and European Medicines Agency in Europe (May/June 2017).
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Journal of pain research · Jan 2017
ReviewDose-related beneficial and harmful effects of gabapentin in postoperative pain management - post hoc analyses from a systematic review with meta-analyses and trial sequential analyses.
During the last 15 years, gabapentin has become an established component of postoperative pain treatment. Gabapentin has been employed in a wide range of doses, but little is known about the optimal dose, providing the best balance between benefit and harm. This systematic review with meta-analyses aimed to explore the beneficial and harmful effects of various doses of gabapentin administered to surgical patients. ⋯ Data were sparse, and the small number of trials with low risk of bias is a major limitation for firm conclusions. Taking these limitations into account, we were not able to demonstrate a clear relationship between the dosage of gabapentin and opioid-sparing or harmful effects. These subgroup analyses are exploratory and hypothesis-generating for future trialists.
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Journal of pain research · Jan 2017
ReviewOpioid analgesics-related pharmacokinetic drug interactions: from the perspectives of evidence based on randomized controlled trials and clinical risk management.
Multimorbidity results in complex polypharmacy which may bear a risk of drug interactions. A better understanding of opioid analgesics combination therapy used for pain management could help warrant medication safety, efficacy, and economic relevance. Until now there has been no review summarizing the opioid analgesics-related pharmacokinetic drug interactions from the perspective of evidence based on randomized controlled trials (RCTs). ⋯ Effective and safe combination therapy of opioids can be achieved by promoting the awareness of potential changes in therapeutic efficacy and toxicities, prescribing alternatives or changing administration strategy, tailoring dose, reviewing the appropriateness of orders, and paying attention to medication monitoring.
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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.