Pain medicine : the official journal of the American Academy of Pain Medicine
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Pain control is the main objective when treating patients with painful diabetic peripheral neuropathic pain (DPNP). However, DPNP is associated with further substantial patient burden that often is not appropriately addressed. Our study identified patients' needs and asked patients what they expected from DPNP treatment. ⋯ The majority of patients identified "general activity" and "walking ability" as most relevant BPI interference items for which they expect improvement from DPNP treatment.
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Lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) is a narrowing of the spinal canal that causes mechanical compression of the spinal nerve roots. The compression of these nerve roots can cause leg pain, as well as neurogenic claudication. Lumbar epidural steroid injections have commonly been used in patients with LSS. The aim of our study was to determine the relationship between the severity of LSS using a grading system (grade 1 = mild stenosis with separation of all cauda equina; grade 2 = moderate stenosis with some cauda equina aggregated; grade 3 = severe stenosis with none of the cauda equina separated) and the subject's response to computed tomography-guided lumbar epidural steroid injection (CTG-LESI) and to evaluate the short-term effectiveness. ⋯ The grade of LSS appears to have no effect on the degree of pain relief associated with CTG-LESI. However, CTG-LESI seems to provide effective short-term pain relief due to LSS.
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To describe the characteristics, treatment, and health care expenditures of Medicare Supplemental-insured patients with painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy (pDPN), post-herpetic neuralgia (PHN), or fibromyalgia. ⋯ The numerous comorbidities, polypharmacy, and magnitude of expenditures in this sample of Medicare supplemental-insured patients with pDPN, PHN, or fibromyalgia underscore the complexity and importance of appropriate management of these chronic pain patients.