Pain medicine : the official journal of the American Academy of Pain Medicine
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Using a large sample of colorectal cancer (CRC) survivors we 1) describe pain interference (PI) prevalence across the cancer continuum; 2) identify demographic and clinical factors associated with PI and changes in PI; and 3) examine PI's relationship with survivors' job changes. ⋯ Almost half of survivors with PI during the initial phase of care had continued PI into post-treatment. Comorbidities, especially cardiovascular and pulmonary conditions, contributed to continued PI. PI may be related to continuing normal activities, that is, work, after completed treatment.
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Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is a painful and disabling syndrome in which the patient presents with neuropathic pain, edema, or vasomotor or pseudomotor abnormalities that are often refractory to treatment. Polio paralysis is caused by the damage or destruction of motor neurons in the spine, which lead to corresponding muscle paralysis. This report is a case report on the application of a pulsed radiofrequency (PRF) current to dorsal root ganglia (DRG) for the treatment of CRPS type 1 in an adolescent patient. ⋯ This case illustrates that PRF applied to lumbar 4 and lumbar 5 DRG may play a significant role in CRPS type 1 management after the surgical treatment of poliomyelitis sequelae in adolescent patients. Further randomized, controlled studies are needed to support this argument.
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This study was designed to gain insight into the apparent contradiction between the perspectives of researchers and policy makers, who have questioned the efficacy and safety of chronic opioid therapy for non-cancer pain patients, and the patients themselves, who often indicate that the therapy has value. ⋯ The results of this study suggest several tentative hypotheses about why patients on chronic opioid therapy value opioids, and identified several areas for systematic investigation in the future.
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Given their ability to process highly dimensional datasets with hundreds of variables, machine learning algorithms may offer one solution to the vexing challenge of predicting postoperative pain. ⋯ Machine learning algorithms, when combined with complex and heterogeneous data from electronic medical record systems, can forecast acute postoperative pain outcomes with accuracies similar to methods that rely only on variables specifically collected for pain outcome prediction.
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There is little research in Southeast Asia focusing on patients' experiences of seeking psychological treatment for chronic pain. ⋯ Education for both patients and health professionals unfamiliar with psychological treatments for pain may improve access to these treatments.