Pain practice : the official journal of World Institute of Pain
-
Nerve growth factor (NGF) was first discovered approximately 60 years ago by Rita Levi-Montalcini as a protein that induces the growth of nerves. It is now known that NGF is also associated with Alzheimer's disease and intractable pain, and hence, it, along with its high-affinity receptor, tropomyosin receptor kinase (Trk) A, is considered to be 1 of the new targets for therapies being developed to treat these diseases. ⋯ Interestingly, local anesthetics also possess TrkA inhibitory effects. This manuscript describes the development of an analgesic that suppresses NGF/TrkA signaling, which is anticipated to be 1 of the new methods to treat intractable pain.
-
Fibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic musculoskeletal pain syndrome that significantly affects patients' quality of life. Its main symptoms are pain, fatigue, and sleep disturbances. ⋯ Differential responses to treatment between men and women were observed in some sleep- and pain-related variables. Outcomes show the needed to design different treatments for men and women with FM is discussed.
-
The patient health questionnaire (PHQ) is designed for screening psychopathology in primary care settings. However, little is known about its clinical utility in other chronic pain populations, which usually have high psychiatric comorbidities. ⋯ The strong specificity of the PHQ appears to be its primary strength for this cohort. Due to its high specificity, the PHQ could be employed as an additional screening tool to help rule out potential psychiatric comorbidity in patients with CDOMD. The low sensitivity of the PHQ in this population, however, remains a weakness of the PHQ.
-
Radiofrequency denervation of the cervical medial branches is a possible treatment for chronic cervical facet pain syndrome when conservative management has failed. According to the literature, complications after radiofrequency denervation of the cervical medial branches are rare. We report a case of possible phrenic nerve injury after ipsilateral radiofrequency denervation of the cervical medial branches following a posterolateral approach.