Pain physician
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The pathophysiology of pain involves complex nervous system interactions after initial noxious stimuli. When stimuli persist, biochemical and structural changes occur in the nociceptive pathways of the central and peripheral nervous systems, leading to pain sensitization. Peripheral and central sensitization are key in the transition from acute to chronic pain. This development of chronic pain is particularly common following various surgical procedures, with many postsurgical patients experiencing persistent pain for significant periods. Chronic pain is a common and severe complication of surgery, and preventing its development is tantamount in improving patient outcomes. ⋯ Acute pain, chronic postsurgical pain, pain sensitization, chronic pain prevention, regional anesthesia, pain adjuncts, neuraxial anesthesia, chronic pain risk factors.
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This comprehensive review of pain in paraneoplastic neurological syndromes focuses on current mechanisms that lead to pain, including autoimmune processes as well as the systemic secretion of factors that sensitize nociceptive nerves. Systemic secretion of functional molecules is a well-recognized phenomenon in endocrine paraneoplastic syndromes; however, cancer pain research has predominantly focused on cytokine-nerve interactions in the tumor microenvironment, and few groups have applied the molecular mechanisms of local pain to study widespread neuropathic pain resulting from systemic secretion. We present a novel perspective in the field of pain research by converging data from clinical oncology with recent molecular pain research on cytokine-mediated sensitization of nociceptive nerves. ⋯ Paraneoplastic neurologic syndromes, chronic pain, neuropathic pain, treatment guidelines, cytokines.
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The role of patient satisfaction continues to play an important role in health care quality measures. The use of online review platforms has been adopted by patients to share their perceptions about the quality of care provided by physicians. Chronic pain practice has unique challenges regarding patient satisfaction. ⋯ Chronic pain practice, online review, patient review, patient satisfaction.
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Head and facial pain is a common and often difficult to treat disorder. Routine treatments sometimes fail to provide acceptable relief, leaving the patient searching for something else, including narcotics and surgery. Recently, neuromodulation has been expanding to provide another option. Secondary to its potentially temporary nature and relatively manageable risk profile, several reviews have suggested trialing neuromodulation prior to starting narcotics or invasive permanent surgeries. There is evidence that neuromodulation can make a difference in those patients with intractable severe craniofacial pain. ⋯ Neuromodulation, headache, facial pain, craniofacial pain, migraine, cluster headache, trigeminal neuralgia, occipital neuralgia, peripheral nerve stimulator, high cervical spinal cord stimulator, peripheral nerve field stimulator.