Pain medicine : the official journal of the American Academy of Pain Medicine
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Intravenous ketamine has been shown to provide postoperative analgesia in many clinical trials, in particular to reduce opioid consumption. The primary objective of this pilot study is to determine if multiple dosing over a three-day perioperative period with oral ketamine is a safe treatment method for acute pain after amputation surgery. ⋯ Our pilot study suggests that oral ketamine is safe to use at 1 mg/kg three times per day, as well as convenient for hospital floor and potential home use. Future studies will determine if the perioperative oral ketamine also reduces the incidence of chronic stump or phantom limb pain.
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This prospective, open-label study was designed to evaluate the long-term effectiveness of 10-kHz high-frequency spinal cord stimulation (SCS) in the treatment of chronic axial low back pain with no history of spinal surgery. ⋯ These results suggest that 10-kHz high-frequency SCS may provide significant, long-term back pain relief, improvement in disability and quality of life, and reduction in opioids for nonsurgical refractory back pain.
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Pain assessment in older adults with cognitive impairment is often challenging, and paramedics are not given sufficient tools/training to assess pain. The development of a mobile app may improve pain assessment and management in this vulnerable population. We conducted usability testing of a newly developed iPhone pain assessment application with potential users, in this case as a tool for clinical paramedic practice to improve pain assessment of older adults with cognitive impairment. ⋯ Our results indicate that the pain assessment app constitutes a potentially useful tool in the prehospital setting. By providing access to a tool specifically developed to help identify/assess pain in a user-friendly format, paramedics are likely to have increased knowledge and confidence in assessing pain in patients with dementia.