Scandinavian journal of pain
-
Persistent postoperative pain (PPP) is a significant clinical problem. Several patient-related risk factors for PPP have been identified, including a previous chronic pain problem, young age, female gender and psychological vulnerability. Intra- and postoperative risk factors include surgical complications such as infections, haematoma, nerve damage and repeated surgery. As the length of hospital stay has been shortened, some patients may be discharged despite ongoing pain and insufficient analgesic medication. The challenge is to identify patients at high risk of developing PPP and to create a targeted care pathway to ensure effective and safe pain treatment especially in the subacute postoperative phase at home. This observational study describes the first two years of the Acute Pain Service Out-Patient Clinic (APS-OPC) at the Helsinki University Hospital. ⋯ The first two years of the APS-OPC have shown that a significant number of surgical patients benefit from continuing active pain management after discharge from hospital. This fast-track service provides physician-supervised titration of analgesics to improve pain relief in the subacute phase. An important task of the APS-OPC is to ensure that strong opioids are not inappropriately continued after recovery. Another goal of the APS-OPC is to identify patients in need of multidisciplinary pain management services to prevent chronification.
-
The majority of patients experience moderate-to-intense pain following ankle surgery. Early, adequate treatment of postoperative pain is desirable for optimal pain relief, which in turn may facilitate optimal pulmonary function, normal respiration pattern, rehabilitation and prevention of a chronic pain condition. In this retrospective study, we aimed to identify possible predictors of moderate-to-intense postoperative pain while in the Post Anaesthesia Care Unit (PACU) in patients operated for ankle fractures. ⋯ Our findings suggest that treatment strategies to prevent high peaks of pain should particularly target women operated for an ankle fracture.
-
Chronic pain problems are related to specific pain related fears and maladaptive pain-coping but also commonly co-occur with other anxiety problems. Shared emotional vulnerability factors may explain this comorbidity and may influence treatment outcome. Indeed, pain patients going through multimodal pain treatment are a heterogeneous group and treatment results vary. One understudied anxiety disorder co-occurring with pain is social anxiety. This may be relevant as many pain-related challenges are situated in social contexts. The aim of this study is to investigate the occurrence of subgroups with differential patterns of social anxiety and pain related fear in a sample of chronic pain patients who receive multimodal pain treatment. The aim is also to study the characteristics of these potential subgroups and the consequences of different patterns of social anxiety and pain related fear. ⋯ These patients may be in need of additional treatment efforts that are not being met today. To prevent insufficient treatment results and prolonged work disability, these patients need to be detected during screening and may benefit from pain treatment that takes their emotional problems into account.
-
Pain can interrupt and deteriorate executive task performance. We have previously shown that experimentally induced optimism can diminish the deteriorating effect of cold pressor pain on a subsequent working memory task (i.e., operation span task). In two successive experiments we sought further evidence for the protective role of optimism on pain-induced working memory impairments. We used another working memory task (i.e., 2-back task) that was performed either after or during pain induction. ⋯ It is important to explore factors that may diminish the negative impact of pain on the ability to function in daily life, as pain itself often cannot be remediated. We are planning to conduct future studies that should shed further light on the conditions, contexts and executive operations for which optimism can act as a protective factor.
-
The majority of patients suffering from a whiplash injury will recover, but some will have symptoms (Whiplash Associated Disorders, WAD) for years despite conservative treatment. Some of these patients perceive neck pain that might come from a motion segment, possibly the disc. In comprehensive reviews no evidence has been found that fusion operations have a positive treatment effect on neck pain in WAD patients. ⋯ Thorough individual symptom evaluation in patients with chronic WAD may identify patients who will benefit from cervical fusion surgery.