Pain medicine : the official journal of the American Academy of Pain Medicine
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
A multi-center, randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled trial of intravenous-ibuprofen (IV-ibuprofen) for treatment of pain in post-operative orthopedic adult patients.
To determine whether pre- and post-operative administration of intravenous ibuprofen (IV-ibuprofen) can significantly decrease pain and morphine use when compared with placebo in adult orthopedic surgical patients. ⋯ Pre- and post-operative administration of IV-ibuprofen significantly reduced both pain and morphine use in orthopedic surgery patients in this prospective randomized placebo-controlled trial.
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Review
What does the mechanism of spinal cord stimulation tell us about complex regional pain syndrome?
Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) can have dramatic effects on painful, vascular, and motor symptoms of complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), but its precise mechanism of action is unclear. Better understanding of the physiologic effects of SCS may improve understanding not only of this treatment modality but also of CRPS pathophysiology. Effects of SCS on pain perception are likely to occur through activation of inhibitory GABA-ergic and cholinergic spinal interneurons. ⋯ Cutaneous vasodilation following SCS in animal models has been shown to involve antidromic release of calcitonin gene-related peptide and possibly nitric oxide, from small-diameter sensory neurons expressing the transient receptor potential V1 (TRPV1) receptor. The involvement of sympathetic efferents in the effects of SCS has not been studied in animal models of neuropathic pain, but has been demonstrated in models of angina pectoris. In conclusion, SCS is of clinical benefit in CRPS, and although its mechanism of action merits further elucidation, what little we do know is informative and can partially explain some of the pathophysiology of CRPS.
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To review mechanisms that might contribute to sensory disturbances and sympathetically-maintained pain in complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS). ⋯ Sympathetic neural activity might contribute to pain and sensory disturbances in CRPS by feeding into nociceptive circuits at the site of injury or elsewhere in the CRPS-affected limb, within the dorsal horn, or via thalamo-cortical projections.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
The efficacy of transforaminal injection of steroids for the treatment of lumbar radicular pain.
Transforaminal injection of steroids is used to treat lumbar radicular pain. Not known is whether the route of injection or the agent injected is significant. ⋯ Transforaminal injection of steroids is effective only in a proportion of patients. Its superiority over other injections is obscured when group data are compared but emerges when categorical outcomes are calculated. Over time, the proportion of patients with maintained responses diminishes.