Pain physician
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Patients with pain conditions place significant demands on health care services globally. Health economists have reported the annual economic cost of pain in the United States as high as $635 billion. A common challenge in treating patients suffering from chronic pain conditions is accurate diagnosis and treatment. ⋯ The demographic differences and similarities within the subgroups highlighted the concept that pain diagnoses should be considered as separate, but related entities. The present study helps us to better understand the frequency of specific pain diagnoses, and directs future studies to appropriately focus on pain diagnoses based on prevalence. This will allow increased understanding of the variation in pain diagnoses and prevent over-generalization in studies examining pain patients to more accurately reflect the varied subtypes and their economic impact.Duke University Institutional Review Board Protocol: 00053624Key words: Pain diagnoses, CRPS, neuritis, radiculitis, limb pain, degenerative spine disease, back pain, chronic pain, post-laminectomy pain, prevalence, MarketScan.
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Chronic pain and prescription opioid abuse are extremely prevalent in the United States and worldwide. The consequences of opioid misuse can be life-threatening with significant morbidity and mortality, exacting a heavy toll on patients, physicians, and society. The risk for misuse of prescribed opioids is much higher in patients with chronic pain, especially those with concurrent substance use and /or mental health disorders. ⋯ This manuscript, Part 2 of a 2 part update, builds on the 2012 opioid guidelines published in Pain Physician, and the 2016 guidelines released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It reviews screening, monitoring, and addressing opioid abuse and misuse in patients with chronic non-cancer pain. Opioids, misuse, abuse, chronic pain, prevalence, risk assessment, risk management, drug monitoring, aberrant drug-related behavior.
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Herpes zoster (HZ) is a painful, blistering skin eruption in a dermatomal distribution caused by reactivation of a latent varicella zoster virus in the dorsal root ganglia (DRG). Post-herpetic neuralgia (PHN) is the most common complication of acute herpes zoster (AHZ). Severe prodrome, greater acute pain and dermatomal injury, and the density of the eruption are the risk factors and predictors for developing PHN. ⋯ The idea of this newly suggested approach is to increase the awareness of the health care team and the community about the nature of HZ and its complications, especially in the high-risk groups. Besides, it emphasizes the importance of the prompt antiviral therapy and the early sympathetic blockades for preventing PHN. Key words: Acute herpes zoster, prevention, post-herpetic neuralgia, sympathetic blockade, ten-step model.
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Postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) patients suffer debilitating chronic pain, hyperalgesia, and allodynia, as well as emotional disorders such as insomnia, anxiety, and depression. The brain structure and functional basis of PHN are still not fully understood. ⋯ For PHN patients, the local brain activity abnormality was not restricted to the pain matrix. Besides regions related to pain perception, areas in charge of affective processes, emotional activity, and pain modulation also showed abnormal local brain activity in a resting state, which may suggest complicated supraspinal function and plasticity change in PHN patients. ReHo was more closely correlated with pain intensity of PHN patients than fALFF. This work indicates that besides physical and emotional pain perception, mood disorder and pain modulation could be characteristic of PHN patients. This also supports the potential use of therapeutic interventions not only restricted to pain alleviation, but that also attempt to ameliorate the cognitive and emotional comorbidities. Key words: Postherpetic neuralgia, resting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI), mood disorder, limbic system, fractional aptitude of low-frequency fluctuation (fALFF), regional homogeneity (ReHo).