Pain physician
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Chronic pain (CP) may increase the risk of cognitive impairment; however, the association between CP and dementia is still unclear. ⋯ CP was associated with a higher risk of dementia, especially in the 50-64 years age group. Early treatment of CP for the prevention of dementia is suggested.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Efficacy of Single-shot Thoracic Paravertebral Block Combined with Intravenous Analgesia Versus Continuous Thoracic Epidural Analgesia for Chronic Pain After Thoracotomy.
Patients undergoing thoracic surgery frequently suffer from chronic pain after thoracotomy. Chronic pain can lead to a significant decline in a patient's quality of life. However, the effect of single-shot thoracic paravertebral block (TPVB) combined with intravenous analgesia on chronic pain incidence is unclear. ⋯ In patients undergoing thoracotomy, continuous TEA significantly reduced the chronic pain incidence at rest at 3 months and 12 months after operation and provided better acute pain relief up to 24 hours after operation compared with single-shot TPVB combined with intravenous analgesia.
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Paraspinal muscle spasm caused by pain from a lumbar degenerative disc is frequently investigated in patients with low back pain. Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) surgery could alleviate paraspinal muscle spasms. ⋯ Hypersensitive sinuvertebral and basivertebral nerves are strongly associated with epidural neovascularization with adhesion and the pathological pain pathway in degenerative disc disease. Epidural neovascularization with adhesion reflects aberrant neurological connections, which are associated with reflex inhibitory mechanisms of the multifidus muscle, which induces spasm. RFA treatment of the region of epidural neovascularization with adhesion effectively treated chronic discogenic back pain and could induce paraspinal muscle spasm release.
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Percutaneous endoscopic lumbar discectomy (PELD), as a representative minimally invasive spine surgery technique for lumbar disc herniation (LDH), has been standardized. In PELD, tissues such as ligamentum flavum, dural sac, nerve root, posterior longitudinal ligament, annulus fibrosus, and endplate were exposed, removed, and decompressed. However, during PELD, whether there is pain or not in the tissues under endoscope in LDH patients has never been thoroughly discussed in the previous research. ⋯ Tissues, such as ligamentum flavum, dural sac, nerve root, posterior longitudinal ligament, annulus fibrosus, and endplate, have different kinds of pain in PELD for LDH.
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The costal pain is common in thoracic osteoporotic fracture patients. It is unclear why vertebral fracture patients without any specific nerve impingement on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) present with costal pain. ⋯ The incidence of costal pain is significantly and positively associated with the width of the fractured vertebra in patients with osteoporotic thoracic vertebrae fracture.