Pain medicine : the official journal of the American Academy of Pain Medicine
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Emerging literature supports the use of basivertebral nerve ablation (BVNA) for a specific cohort of patients with chronic low back pain and Type 1 or Type 2 Modic changes from vertebral levels L3-S1. The early literature warrants further evaluation. Studies establishing the efficacy of BVNA use highly selective patient criteria. ⋯ The population which may benefit from BVNA is small. Our study demonstrated that over a year, the prevalence for BVNA candidacy using the foundational studies criteria was 3% (95% CI 1% - 5%). While physicians may be tempted to use less stringent selection criteria in practice, upon doing so they cannot cite the foundational studies as evidence for the outcomes they expect to achieve. Those outcomes will require more studies which formally assess the benefits of BVNA when selection criteria are relaxed.
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Meta Analysis
Effectiveness of Pain Neuroscience Education in Patients with Fibromyalgia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
To assess the effects of pain neuroscience education (PNE) on patients with fibromyalgia in terms of pain intensity, fibromyalgia impact, anxiety, and pain catastrophizing. ⋯ There is low-quality evidence that in patients with fibromyalgia, PNE can decrease the pain intensity in the post-intervention period and the fibromyalgia impact in the follow-up period. However, it appears that PNE showed no effect on anxiety and pain catastrophizing.
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Greater trochanteric pain syndrome may often mimic pain generated from other sources. However, it is most commonly caused by gluteus medius and gluteus minimus tendinopathy or tear. The purpose of this technical report was to: 1) describe the ultrasound-guided fascial plane block technique targeting the superior gluteal nerve in the plane between gluteus medius/gluteus minimus to treat moderate-to-severe, chronic, refractory greater trochanteric pain syndrome; 2) anatomically correlate the procedure with cadaveric dissections demonstrating the structures being imaged and the tissues along the needle trajectory; 3) demonstrate the feasibility of the technique with serial dissection of one cadaveric specimen following injection with color dye. ⋯ This ultrasound-guided fascial plane block is a feasible option for blocking the superior gluteal nerve without inadvertent involvement of the sciatic and inferior gluteal nerves. Further randomized controlled clinical trials are necessary to assess the clinical efficacy of the gluteus medius/gluteus minimus fascial plane block to treat moderate-to-severe, chronic, refractory greater trochanteric pain syndrome.
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The plethora of self-administered questionnaires to assess positive psychosocial factors complicates questionnaire selection. This study aimed to identify and reach consensus on the most suitable self-administered questionnaires to assess resilience, optimism, pain acceptance and social support in people with pain. ⋯ We advocate the use of these recommended questionnaires so data can be compared and pooled more easily.