Pain practice : the official journal of World Institute of Pain
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The economic burden associated with fibromyalgia in the U.S. is substantial. The objective of this study was to compare changes in health care costs in fibromyalgia patients initiated on pregabalin and duloxetine in real-world settings. ⋯ No significant differences were found between pregabalin and duloxetine in the pre- to postindex change in mean all-cause or fibromyalgia-related total health care costs.
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Spinal cord stimulation is now established as an effective treatment for refractory angina. We present the use of an alternative approach to neuromodulation of anginal pain using subcutaneous leads placed at the site of pain. ⋯ This technique was able to provide good analgesia in two patients that had had poor pain relief from existing spinal cord stimulators. All five patients achieved significant pain relief with a reduction in symptoms and a decrease in the use of pain medication.
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Most studies on comorbidity in low back pain (LBP) have been conducted in specialized settings with the use of self-reports. This study has an original design using data from family practices: the incidence of the most frequent diseases was compared in patients with and without LBP in 2004. The database includes data from 67 family physicians in 52 family practices in Flanders, Belgium. ⋯ Low back pain is one of the most frequent diagnoses in general practice. Striking is the relatively higher frequency of common self-limiting diseases in patients with a diagnosis of LBP during the same year. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first time that medical demands for non-LBP reasons in family practice have been reported in patients with LBP.
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Scalene muscle injections are used to confirm the diagnosis of neurogenic thoracic outlet syndrome and predict the response of patients to surgery. We performed a retrospective study to determine if relief of pain was related to brachial plexus blockade in these patients. ⋯ The relief from scalene muscle injections in patients with neurogenic thoracic outlet syndrome is not related to blockade of the brachial plexus.