Pain practice : the official journal of World Institute of Pain
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Phantom pain is pain caused by elimination or interruption of sensory nerve impulses by destroying or injuring the sensory nerve fibers after amputation or deafferentation. The reported incidence of phantom limb pain after trauma, injury or peripheral vascular diseases is 60% to 80%. Over half the patients with phantom pain have stump pain as well. ⋯ Based on the available evidence some effect may be expected from drug treatment. When conservative treatment fails, pulsed radiofrequency treatment of the stump neuroma or of the spinal ganglion (DRG) or spinal cord stimulation could be considered (evidence score 0). These treatments should only be applied in a study design.
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This study was to develop a version of the Pain Medication Questionnaire (PMQ) specific to the elderly chronic pain population and to identify relevant subscales and items for that population. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted to assess the factor structure of the PMQ, to eliminate items that are not appropriate for this population, and to improve ease of administration in the elderly population. ⋯ The findings suggest that, although a small number of the items were identified from the overall scale, they adequately explain two relatively unique factors pertaining to pain management among older adults. This preliminary study suggests that the seven-item PMQ may be useful in assessing opioid medication misuse in community-dwelling older adults with chronic pain. Future studies are needed to confirm the reliability, validity, and factor structure of this modified PMQ in the geriatric population.
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Herpes zoster pain and postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) particularly affect older persons. This literature review presents how quality of life is evaluated and the consequences of shingles and PHN on the quality of life of older persons. Although more than 150 articles have been published on herpes zoster and its consequences, specific studies focusing on the older population are needed, in several domains like epidemiology, preventive medicine, neuropsychology, and pharmacology.
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Comparative Study Clinical Trial
An open-label comparison of nabilone and gabapentin as adjuvant therapy or monotherapy in the management of neuropathic pain in patients with peripheral neuropathy.
Neuropathic pain (NeP) is prevalent in patients with peripheral neuropathy (PN), regardless of etiology. We sought to compare the efficacy of the cannabinoid nabilone as either monotherapy or adjuvant therapy with a first-line medication for NeP, gabapentin, in a patient population with PN-NeP. Patients diagnosed with PN-NeP were permitted to initiate monotherapy (nabilone or gabapentin) or add one of these two medications (adjuvant therapy) to their existing NeP treatment regimen in a non-randomized open-label nature. ⋯ Sleep adequacy and the sleep problems index within the MOSSS improved in nabilone monotherapy patients in particular. The benefits of monotherapy or adjuvant therapy with nabilone appear comparable to gabapentin for management of NeP. We advocate for head-to-head randomized, double-blind studies for current therapies for NeP in order to determine potential advantages beneficial in this patient population.
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With few exceptions, anesthesiologists have not received training in the use of immune modulating drugs (IMDs); but recent evidence suggests that such drugs may be effective in reducing chronic pain. We therefore wished to learn how anesthesiologists working in pain medicine might envisage the treatment of their patients with IMDs in the future. We expected that anesthesiologists would want to refer patients for treatment with IMDs to medical colleagues, such as oncologists or rheumatologists, with prior experience in using these drugs, rather than treat these patients within their own practice. ⋯ Contrary to what we had expected, we found that a majority of the respondents would administer IMDs within their own practice, after appropriate training. The overall response rates were 30% and 23%, respectively; therefore, no firm conclusions can be drawn as to the views of the majority of practicing pain specialists. Our findings may have implications for the planning of both health service delivery and training in pain medicine.