Pain medicine : the official journal of the American Academy of Pain Medicine
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Intermittent fever has been occasionally related to migraine, either as a migraine equivalent or as a migraine accompaniment. We present a case of recurrent increase in body temperature consistently associated with migraine headaches. ⋯ Recurrent increase in body temperature may be another manifestation of the complex clinical spectrum of migraine. This symptom is probably related to hypothalamic involvement.
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To investigate the response of patients with peripheral neuropathic pain (PNP) to capsaicin 8% patch treatment in a clinical setting. ⋯ This analysis demonstrates that in clinical practice, the capsaicin 8% patch provides rapid and sustained pain reductions in patients with a variety of PNP conditions and a significant reduction in prescribed concomitant NP medications. The capsaicin 8% patch can be a valuable addition to the NP treatment armory for certain patients.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Heart rate variability parameters do not correlate with pain intensity in healthy volunteers.
When patients cannot indicate pain, physiological parameters may be useful. We tested whether heart rate variability (HRV) parameters, as reflection of sympathetic and vagal tone, can be used to quantify pain intensity. ⋯ HRV parameters may detect responses to heat pain, but are not suitable to assess pain intensity.
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To assess the effectiveness of a muscle protocol to treat patients diagnosed with neuraxial low back pain (LBP) before and after invasive treatments. ⋯ In patients thought to have neuraxial pain, identification and treatment of painful muscles had statistically significant long-lasting and clinically meaningful reductions in pain and improvement in function. Muscle and tendon attachments may be an important and treatable source of pain in patients diagnosed with pre and postsurgical neuraxial pain.
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Evaluate the prevalence of an anomalous posterior vertebral artery (VA) in the neural foramen and to see if any factors might correlate with proximity of the VA to needle location in a cervical transforaminal epidural steroid injection (CTFESI). ⋯ The VA can sometimes be in close proximity to the typical target location of a CTFESI. This proximity correlates with severity of foraminal stenosis and loss of disc height. Physicians should be mindful of this and evaluate the T2 axial magnetic resonance imaging before doing CFTESIs.