Pain medicine : the official journal of the American Academy of Pain Medicine
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Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is associated with a range of sensory disturbances on the symptomatic side of the body but whether this includes olfaction is uncertain. To clarify this, the aims of this study were to compare ratings of intensity and hedonic appeal of household odorants in CRPS patients and controls, and to determine whether ratings differed between the symptomatic and contralateral sides within the sample of patients. ⋯ These findings suggest that the trigeminal component of olfaction interacts bilaterally with pain-sensitized circuits in the thalamus or higher cortical centers to distort odor perception in patients with CRPS. This aberrant process appears to differ from the mechanism that underlies hemilateral hyperalgesia in other sensory modalities.
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Depression frequently coexists with chronic pain. Contemporary models suggest that these conditions share pathobiological mechanisms, prompting a need to investigate their temporal association. This investigation aimed to explore two distinctly different chronic pain conditions, and their cross-sectional and prospective associations with depression. ⋯ Pain may be a stressor from which depression can arise. Development of depression may be differentially dependant upon the type of pain experienced. Screening for depression symptoms among individuals with both chronic pain conditions is indicated and should be repeated over time.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Efficacy of Duloxetine in Patients with Central Post-Stroke Pain: A Randomized Double Blind Placebo Controlled Trial.
Central post-stroke pain (CPSP) refers to neuropathic pain in areas of the body corresponding to stroke lesions. Duloxetine, a serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor, is safe and effective against neuropathic pain. In this randomized double-blind placebo-controlled study, we studied the effect of duloxetine in CPSP patients. ⋯ Duloxetine can be an effective treatment option for patients with moderate to severe central post-stroke pain.
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Multicenter Study
Assessing validity of the original and Rasch versions of the central sensitization inventory with psychophysical tests in people with knee osteoarthritis.
To determine the extent of agreement between the original Central Sensitization Inventory (CSI) and the Rasch-calibrated version (RC-CSI) and to explore the association of both versions with psychophysical tests and their respective sensitivity and specificity. ⋯ Because of poor variance explained with psychophysical tests and high false positive rates, our results indicate that there is little clinical value of using either version of the CSI in people with knee osteoarthritis.