Pain physician
-
Percutaneous kyphoplasty (PKP) has been proven as an effective, minimally invasive procedure for the treatment of Kummell's disease in the early stages. However, a risk of cement leakage and further neurological damage remains during and after PKP, especially in chronic osteoporotic stage III Kummell's disease with severe spinal canal stenosis. ⋯ PKP is an effective, minimally invasive procedure for the treatment of chronic osteoporotic stage III Kummell's disease with severe spinal stenosis, leading to a significant relief of symptoms and improvement of functional status. INSTITUTIONAL REVIEW: This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board.
-
Radiation therapy (RT) is the current gold standard for palliation of painful vertebral metastases. However, other percutaneous modalities such as radiofrequency ablation (RFA), cryoablation, and vertebral augmentation have also been shown to be effective in alleviating symptoms. Combined RT and ablation may be more effective than either therapy alone in palliating painful metastatic disease to the spine. ⋯ Percutaneous ablation and concurrent RT is safe and effective in palliating painful spinal metastases and can be effective in those who have radiation resistant tumor histology.
-
Case reports of catastrophic neurological sequelae during ESIs have questioned the safety of this procedure. A proposed mechanism is particulate steroid embolization resulting in neuralischemia. Previous reports have described steroid clumping in common epidural injection mixtures. We demonstrate that physiologic medium can also modify aggregation. ⋯ Overall, the presence of serum resulted in fewer large steroid particle aggregates when compared to non-serum control samples. Amongst particulate steroids, betamethasone with bupivacaine 0.5% demonstrated the fewest and smallest particle aggregates, suggesting that preparation may reduce the risk of embolic infarction. Methylprednisolone formed significantly larger particles in bupivicaine 0.5% with serum compared to non-serum controls.
-
Review Meta Analysis
Manual Therapy for Hip Osteoarthritis: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.
Hip osteoarthritis (HOA) is one of the major causes of disability in seniors and is costly to society. Manual therapy is one therapeutic approach to treating HOA. ⋯ This review did not suggest there was enough evidence for manual therapy for the management of HOA. However, we are not confident in making such a conclusion due to the limitations listed above.
-
Review Meta Analysis
Coxib's Safety in Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Diseases: A Meta-analysis.
Patients with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) frequently have extraintestinal manifestations including arthritis, sacroiliitis, and ankylosing spondylitis. While the treatment of these rheumatological conditions with traditional non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) has been reported to lead to frequent IBD exacerbation, the safety of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitors (Coxibs) remains unclear. ⋯ This meta-analysis showed that Coxibs are safe in most patients with IBD. Controlled trials of Coxibs compared with NSAIDs would be useful, at least in patients suffering from rheumatic pain refractory to standard treatment.