Pain medicine : the official journal of the American Academy of Pain Medicine
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The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of coexisting fibromyalgia syndrome (FS) on pain intensity, disability, and treatment outcome in patients with chronic lateral epicondylitis (LE). ⋯ Coexisting FS may increase the pain intensity and disability, and negatively affect the treatment outcome in patients with chronic LE.
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Case Reports
Sternal kyphoplasty for metastatic lung cancer: image-guided palliative care, utilizing fluoroscopy and sonography.
Skeletal metastases can cause severe pain and functional impairment, secondary to direct invasion or osteolysis. Direct palliation of these metastases can reduce the burden of pain. Surgical excision or radiotherapy has been used to target these tumors. ⋯ Ultrasound imaging was used with fluoroscopy. Reproducibility, by other providers, is imperative with any emerging technique; this will facilitate wider patient access and device innovation. Hopefully, future multicenter trials will validate the efficacy and safety of this technique.
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Comparative Study
An in vivo canine study to assess granulomatous responses in the MedStream Programmable Infusion System (TM) and the SynchroMed II Infusion System®.
A rare, but consistently reported complication of intrathecal (IT) delivery of opioids via programmable implantable infusion pumps is aseptic granuloma formation around the tip of the IT catheter. In the current study, the incidence and severity of IT granuloma formation was assessed for the MedStream Programmable Infusion and SynchroMed II Infusion pumps when delivering saline, baclofen, or morphine at varying concentrations and daily doses. ⋯ In this in vivo canine model of IT drug delivery, catheter tip granuloma formation was associated with higher concentrations and daily doses of morphine infusion while none were seen with baclofen or saline, and was not associated with catheter type. For both pumps, granulomas were only produced in the presence of morphine infusion. These results suggest that the MedStream Programmable Infusion System has a granuloma safety profile at least equivalent to that of the SynchroMed II pump.
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Clinical Trial
The effect of deep and slow breathing on pain perception, autonomic activity, and mood processing--an experimental study.
Deep and slow breathing (DSB) techniques, as a component of various relaxation techniques, have been reported as complementary approaches in the treatment of chronic pain syndromes, but the relevance of relaxation for alleviating pain during a breathing intervention was not evaluated so far. ⋯ Our results suggest that the way of breathing decisively influences autonomic and pain processing, thereby identifying DSB in concert with relaxation as the essential feature in the modulation of sympathetic arousal and pain perception.