Current pain and headache reports
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Curr Pain Headache Rep · Aug 2009
ReviewRadiation, chemotherapy, and symptom management in cancer-related cognitive dysfunction.
Patients with cancer are concerned about their ability to interact with friends and family and to perform activities associated with daily living. The combined effects of the disease process, its treatment with surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy, and the medications used to manage symptoms may all impact cognitive function. Minimizing the effect of each treatment modality on cognitive processing requires an understanding of how these treatment modalities may impact cognition.
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Treatment of pain in the setting of sickle cell disease remains unsatisfactory. The approach remains to treat the pain symptomatically with escalating doses of non-opioid and opioid medications while any underlying inciting process is investigated. For the majority of patients with sickle cell disease, pain will always be part of their lives. Advances in the treatment of sickle cell pain will depend on multiple approaches, including both pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic.
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It is estimated that nearly half of the global adult population suffers from an active headache disorder, most of whom experience attacks on an episodic basis. The transition from episodic to chronic headache is a poorly understood process. ⋯ This review highlights findings from population-based studies on headache and other pain disorders and how they relate to each other, with a focus on understanding headache chronification. We also consider the limitations and methodological challenges in understanding how two different chronic pain disorders may be related.