Pain physician
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Novel externally powered spinal cord stimulation technology can be fully implanted when trialing the effectiveness of the therapy, since no percutaneous leads are needed, and the trial period lasted 30 days. Multiple tests of different stimulation modalities and parameters are possible, thus improving the chances that the therapy will lead to effective pain reduction. ⋯ The study demonstrates that spinal cord stimulation with multiple stimulation patterns demonstrates clinical and functional efficacy when using an externally powered stimulation system.
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It is well established that the experience of chronic pain significantly differs among ethnic-racial groups. There is mixed evidence to suggest that societal influences may contribute to pain prevalence among cultural groups and their treatment response. One possible explanation for differences in pain experience are the differences in socioeconomic status among patients with chronic pain. ⋯ The results of our study show that there are no differences in pain perception or treatment responses in patients from different socioeconomic statuses despite differences among groups in age, BMI, race, utilization of opioid medications, and MME at first visit. Patients at this pain practice appear to have been treated with similar modalities regardless of socioeconomic status.
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Although patient-reported outcomes (PROs) have become important in the evaluation of spine surgery patients, the accuracy of patient recall of pre- or post-intervention symptoms following epidural steroid injection remains unknown. ⋯ Relying on patient recollection does not provide an accurate measure of preinjection status after lumbar epidural steroid injection, although patients did recall their 4-hour postinjection status. These findings support previous studies indicating that relying on patient recollection does not provide an accurate measure of preintervention symptoms. Patient recollection of postintervention symptoms, however, may have some clinical utility and requires further study.
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The navigable percutaneous disc decompression (PDD) device L'DISQ is an effective and safe option for the treatment of lumbar discogenic pain. However, few studies have evaluated the prognostic factors of successful PDD using this device. ⋯ The presence of HIZs, the absence of migration of herniated discs, and the presence of unilaterally herniated discs are positive predictors of successful outcomes of PDD using the L'DISQ.
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Neuropathic pain following brachial plexus avulsion injury (BPAI) induces plastic changes in multiple brain regions associated with somatosensory function, pain, or cognition at the group level. The alternation of the whole pattern of resting-state brain activity and the feasibility of a brain imaging, information-based diagnosis of pain following BPAI is poorly investigated. ⋯ Our study indicated that MVPA based on the PET scans of rats' brains could successfully identify neuropathic pain from health condition at the individual level and predictive regions could potentially be provided as neuroimaging biomarkers for the neuropathic pain following BPAI.