Current pain and headache reports
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Intractable chronic headaches are a major challenge for both patients and healthcare professionals. Over the last two decades, implantable electrical neuromodulators, previously established to manage other forms of chronic pain, have been used increasingly for intractable primary and secondary headache disorders. ⋯ The field of neuromodulation has been rapidly advancing, with many new targets being discovered and novel devices being developed for treating craniofacial pain. We discuss some of these targets, detailing the latest advances in the area of neuromodulation for intractable headaches.
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Curr Pain Headache Rep · Feb 2014
ReviewCeliac plexus block in the management of chronic abdominal pain.
Chronic abdominal pain is a devastating problem for patients and providers, due to the difficulty of effectively treating the entity. Both benign and malignant conditions can lead to chronic abdominal pain. Precision in diagnosis is required before effective treatment can be instituted. ⋯ Fluoroscopy, computed tomography (CT) guidance and endoscopic ultrasound assistance may be utilized to aid the practitioner in performing the blockade of the celiac plexus. The choice of radiographic technology depends on the specialty of the interventionalist, with gastroenterologists favoring endoscopic ultrasound and interventional pain physicians and radiologists preferring CT guidance. A review is presented describing the indications, technical aspects, and agents utilized to block the celiac plexus in patients suffering from chronic abdominal pain.
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Curr Pain Headache Rep · Feb 2014
ReviewConsiderations for evaluating the use of intrathecal drug delivery in the oncologic patient.
While the majority of cancer pain patients are successfully managed with conservative medical management, some patients may suffer from intractable pain or intolerable side effects. The implantation of an intrathecal drug delivery system offers many advantages to improve both analgesia and side effect profile. ⋯ Once implantation is completed, multiple medication combinations may be used to optimize the therapeutic benefit of the device. We describe a stepwise paradigm to implement an intrathecal drug delivery program in the cancer pain population.
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Chronic pain is one of the most prevalent and costly health care problems in the United States today. Two conditions, failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS) and complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), in particular have been difficult to manage, resulting in increased disability and poorer quality of life measures for patients as well as increased treatments cost for payers. Given the cost of chronic pain management and overall subjectivity of analog pain scores, many payers are emphasizing the importance of functional outcomes as a means of assessing efficacy of treatment. ⋯ Specific rehabilitation therapies also demonstrate improved functional outcomes. This article aims to discuss the role of rehabilitation in the patient with a neuromodulatory device. From the available data and our clinical experience, we recommend incorporating rehabilitation after placement of a neuromodulation device in order to optimize functional outcomes.
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Occipital nerve stimulation may be effective in treating chronic migraine. Six studies, including three double-blind studies, were performed, with five showing evidence of benefit. However, of the three randomized, controlled trials, none has met a primary endpoint successfully. A separate study suggested a benefit for combined supraorbital and greater occipital nerve stimulation.