Pain medicine : the official journal of the American Academy of Pain Medicine
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Clinical Trial
Effectiveness of prostaglandin E1 for the treatment of patients with neuropathic pain following herpes zoster.
Postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) is one of the most painful neuropathic conditions, the mechanism of which remains unclear. There is no universally accepted treatment. The pain in PHN is often relieved by bathing, heating, or sympathetic blockade, suggesting a circulation-dependent property of the pain. Therefore, we examined the effectiveness of prostaglandin E(1) (PGE(1)), which has an analgesic effect via improvement of peripheral blood circulation, for patients with PHN. ⋯ The results of the present study indicate that oral PGE(1) following the intravenous administration produces prompt and continuous analgesia in patients with PHN. Moreover, the intravenous treatment using PGE(1) appears useful for predicting the analgesic effect of PGE(1) in the patients.
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This study of patients with a diagnosis of fibromyalgia (FM) was conducted to test the hypothesis that immediate posttreatment measures of psychosocial functioning, health attributes, negative pain-related emotions, and depressive symptoms improve significantly during multidisciplinary pain rehabilitation while concurrently withdrawing analgesic medications. ⋯ The results of this study support the hypothesis that immediate posttreatment measures of physical and emotional functioning are favorable for patients with FM following multidisciplinary pain rehabilitation that incorporates withdrawal of analgesic medications.
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This is a structured evidence-based review of all available studies on the effect of pain, (a state phenomenon) on the measurement of personality characteristics (a trait phenomenon). ⋯ Based on the above results, it was concluded that some trait tests and inventories may not be pain state independent. Therefore, caution is warranted in interpreting postpain development personality profiles as being indicative of the true prepain personality structure, if measured by these tests. Why trait scores may change with treatment, confounding test-retest issues, and whether trait tests actually measure what they allegedly measure are discussed.
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Functional restoration programs for chronic low back pain (CLBP) have been shown to be successful in improving function and, to a lesser extent, in reducing pain. The Munich Functional Restoration Program (MFRP) is a 4-week outpatient program designed to reduce pain and to improve health-related quality of life in patients with a long history of CLBP. ⋯ Compared with standard treatment, a functional restoration program for CLBP significantly improves some aspects of health-related quality of life. It results in a decrease of pain and pain-related disability even in patients with a long history of CLBP.