Pain medicine : the official journal of the American Academy of Pain Medicine
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In recent years, there has been increased attention to pain management after surgery in the hospital setting along with financial enticement from the US government. The aim of this study is to evaluate the current efficacy of postoperative pain management. ⋯ The incidence of severe-to-extreme pain in patients before and after discharge following inpatient surgery is 12-13%, and this is a reduction from 10 years ago.
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The experiential acquisition of pain-related fear has been demonstrated by pairing a painful electrocutaneous stimulus pain-US; unconditioned pain stimulus) with one movement (CS+; conditioned stimulus) but not with another (CS-). However, it is expected that during acquisition through direct experience, pain-related fear can be intensified or weakened by verbally/visually transmitted information about the pain and its meaning. ⋯ The results suggest that our threat manipulation might not have worked or that it was not sensitive enough to yield group-specific effects. We replicated acquisition, extinction, and return of experimentally conditioned fear of movement-related pain, but the threat manipulation failed to generate any additional effects.
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To determine the association of self-report use of metformin and pain intensity. ⋯ In a clinic sample of patients with diabetes, the use of metformin at an average dose of 1,432 mg (SD = 596 mg) was not associated with lower pain scores. Given the anti-nociceptive effects of metformin in the animal models of pain, and the relative safety of metformin, future research should evaluate the effect of the higher dose of metformin as a potential analgesic.
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To evaluate the efficacy of a lumbosacral spine phantom to improve novices' proficiency in performing ultrasound-guided facet joint injection and medial branch block. ⋯ Training using a gelatin-based spine phantom helped novices to acquire the skills necessary to perform ultrasound-guided lumbar facet joint injections and medial branch blocks.
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Case Reports
CNS Measures of Pain Responses Pre- and Post-Anesthetic Ketamine in a Patient with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome.
Previous reports have indicated that ketamine anesthesia may produce significant improvement if not complete recovery of patients with complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS). ⋯ Future studies of brain function in these patients may provide novel insight into brain plasticity in response to this treatment for chronic pain.