Current rheumatology reports
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Rheumatic pain and, in particular, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis and fibromyalgia, are common and debilitating chronic pain syndromes. Recently, human functional neuroimaging, for example EEG, fMRI, and PET has begun to reveal some of the crucial central nervous system mechanisms underlying these diseases. ⋯ The evidence suggests that two mechanisms may be largely responsible for the clinical pain associated with these rheumatic diseases: abnormalities in the medial pain system and/or central nervous system sensitisation and inhibition. If we can understand how functioning of the central nociceptive system becomes altered, even in the absence of peripheral nociceptive input, by using functional neuroimaging techniques, in the future we may be able to develop improved, more effective treatments for patients with chronic rheumatic pain.
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Review
The role of the central nervous system in osteoarthritis pain and implications for rehabilitation.
It has been known for some time that central nervous system (CNS) pain amplification is present in some individuals with osteoarthritis; the implications of this involvement, however, are just starting to be realized. In the past year, several research reviews have focused on evidence supporting shared mechanisms across chronic pain conditions for how pain is generated and maintained in the CNS, irrespective of the underlying structural pathology. This review article focuses on current literature describing CNS amplification in osteoarthritis by discussing peripheral sensitization, central sensitization, and central augmentation, and the clinical manifestation of central augmentation referred to as centralized pain, and offers considerations for rehabilitation treatment and future directions for research.
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Fibromyalgia is a chronic pain disease whose clinical symptomatology also includes different symptom domains: fatigue, sleep disturbances, morning stiffness, dyscognition, and psychological distress. These associated symptoms usually vary in frequency and intensity from patient to patient. Because the efficacy of monotherapy is limited, more severely affected patients frequently require drug combinations. ⋯ To date, only ten studies investigating the efficacy and tolerability of two-drug combinations have been published; some of these studies are old and/or studied drugs that are now known to be of little or no interest in fibromyalgia management. Thus, when polytherapy is considered, therapeutic decisions must be based on data from monotherapy trials and a sound knowledge of the pharmacological profile of each drug. Well-designed clinical trials exploring specific drug combinations selected on the basis of potential additive or synergistic effects should be performed.
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Levamisole-contaminated cocaine has recently been recognized in North America and Europe, and its use is associated with a variety of clinical and autoimmune abnormalities. The clinical characteristic seems to be the presence of a painful purpuric skin rash that predominantly affects the ear lobes and cheeks, often accompanied by systemic manifestations including fever, malaise, arthralgias, myalgias, and laboratory abnormalities, for example leukopenia, neutropenia, positive ANA, ANCA, and phospholipid antibodies. ⋯ Prednisone and immunosuppressive therapy may be needed at times. Further use of the drug is characterized by recurrence of most of the complaints.
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Pain is a major clinical problem of osteoarthritis (OA). Recently, OA has been thought to be a disease of the whole joint with both destruction of cartilage and inflammatory components such as synovitis and bone marrow lesions. ⋯ Additionally, evidence has been provided for neuropathic pain components in OA models. Concerning molecular mechanisms of OA pain and potential options for pain therapy, studies on nerve growth factor, cytokines, sodium channel blockers, hyaluronic acid preparations, and others are addressed in this review.