Pain medicine : the official journal of the American Academy of Pain Medicine
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Comparative Study
Pain assessment in younger and older pain patients: psychometric properties and patient preference of five commonly used measures of pain intensity.
To study the psychometric properties and preference for five different pain intensity scales (horizontal visual analog scale [VAS], vertical VAS, Box-11, Box-21, and verbal descriptor scale) across different age groups. ⋯ The numerical Box-21 scale is an excellent choice for pain intensity assessment in heterogeneous patient groups. The verbal descriptor scales may be considered when the study population consists of a majority of older persons.
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To assess perceptions of the interfering effects of chronic pain upon the frequency of eight activities of daily living, and to examine the psychosocial correlates of these perceptions. The areas assessed included social life, recreation, sleep, household chores, working at a paid job, self-care, exercise, and routine physical activities. ⋯ Although pain severity is consistently related to life task interference, several psychosocial variables make incremental contributions to the perception of pain's deleterious influence on daily task functioning.
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To measure the impact of a structured opioid renewal program for chronic pain run by a nurse practitioner (NP) and clinical pharmacist in a primary care setting. ⋯ An NP/clinical pharmacist-run clinic, supported by a multi-specialty team, can successfully support a primary care practice in managing opioids in complex chronic pain patients.
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Case Reports
Meningitis after percutaneous radiofrequency trigeminal ganglion lesion. Case report and review of literature.
A 79-year-old man with severe trigeminal neuralgia presented to the pain clinic, and was offered a radiofrequency trigeminal ganglion lesion. He had only partial response to the first procedure, so a second was undertaken. The following day he presented with signs of meningitis and the diagnosis was confirmed on lumbar puncture. He was treated with appropriate antibiotics, and recovered well. ⋯ If breach of the oral mucosa has occurred, then antibiotic prophylaxis should be administered.