Journal of pain & palliative care pharmacotherapy
-
J Pain Palliat Care Pharmacother · Jun 2015
Observational StudyPain indicators for persisting pain in hospitalized infants in a South African setting: an explorative study.
In the developing world, there is a high incidence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), gastroenteritis, pneumonia, meningitis, and other inflammatory diseases in infants, the conditions of which may induce persisting pain. The primary objective was to estimate the reliability and validity of the Touch Visual Pain (TVP) scale to measure persisting pain. This prospective observational study was performed in hospitalized 0-3-year-old infants in South Africa. ⋯ Two TVP items were not sensitive to assess pain or distress and were replaced in a revised TVP version. We conclude that our study identified sensitive and specific indicators of persisting pain in hospitalized children under the age of 3 years in a South African setting. Psychometric properties of the revised TVP need to be studied before its use in clinical practice can be recommended.
-
J Pain Palliat Care Pharmacother · Jun 2015
Case ReportsFentanyl tolerance in the treatment of cancer pain: a case of successful opioid switching from fentanyl to oxycodone at a reduced equivalent dose.
Opioids are not generally deemed to have an analgesic ceiling effect on cancer pain. However, there have been occasional reports of tolerance to opioid development induced by multiple doses of fentanyl. The authors report a case of suspected tolerance to the analgesic effect of opioid, in which an increasing dose of fentanyl failed to relieve the patient's cancer pain symptoms, but opioid switching to oxycodone injections enabled a dose reduction to below the equivalent dose conversion ratio. ⋯ Despite the total daily dose of fentanyl reaching 5.6 mg (equivalent to 560 mg oral morphine), the analgesic effect was inadequate; thus, an urgent adjustment was necessary. Due to the moderate dose of fentanyl, the switch to oxycodone injection was done incrementally at a daily dose equivalent to 25% of the fentanyl injection. The total dose of oxycodone was replaced approximately 53.5% of the dose of fentanyl prior to opioid switching.
-
J Pain Palliat Care Pharmacother · Jun 2015
Case ReportsHerpes zoster immunization in older adults has big benefits.
The value and importance of providing herpes zoster immunization to reduce the incidence and severity of acute herpes zoster neuralgia, especially in older patients, is described. The prevention of postherpetic neuralgia can profoundly impact patients' quality of life. This report is adapted from paineurope 2014; Issue 4, © Haymarket Medical Publications Ltd, and is presented with permission. paineurope is provided as a service to pain management by Mundipharma International, LTD and is distributed free of charge to healthcare professionals in Europe. Archival issues can be viewed via the website: www.paineurope.com at which health professionals can find links to the original articles and request copies of the quarterly publication and access additional pain education and pain management resources.
-
J Pain Palliat Care Pharmacother · Jun 2015
Case ReportsTrigeminal neuralgia: unilateral episodic facial pain.
Trigeminal neuralgia is a rare cause of episodic unilateral facial pain and often in the initial presentation dental causes need to be eliminated, as it frequently presents in the lower trigeminal divisions. The pain description is characteristic of electric shock-like pain that is light-touch provoked, paroxysmal, and occurring daily; the condition can go into remission for weeks or months, however. The first-line drug is either carbamazepine or oxcarbazepine and has to be started in low doses. ⋯ Patients need to be given information about all treatment options so they can make a decision about treatment. This report is adapted from paineurope 2014; Issue 4, © Haymarket Medical Publications Ltd., and is presented with permission. paineurope is provided as a service to pain management by Mundipharma International, Ltd., and is distributed free of charge to health care professionals in Europe. Archival issues can be viewed via the Web site: www.paineurope.com , at which health professionals can find links to the original articles and request copies of the quarterly publication and access additional pain education and pain management resources.
-
Questions from patients about pain conditions and analgesic pharmacotherapy and responses from authors are presented to help educate patients and make them more effective self-advocates. This article is about postherpetic neuralgia (PHN), a devastating complication following reactivation of the varicella-zoster virus. The answer offers an explanation for why this pain occurs, and cites literature regarding its incidence and treatment.