Pain practice : the official journal of World Institute of Pain
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Review Meta Analysis
Intradiscal Methylene Blue Injection for Discogenic Low Back Pain: A Meta-Analysis.
The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of intradiscal methylene blue (MB) injection on discogenic low back pain (DLBP). ⋯ Intradiscal MB injection can reduce pain severity and improve the ODI score in individuals with discogenic low back pain. Although intradiscal MB injection seems to be a safe and effective treatment for discogenic low back pain, the clinical benefits for patients with discogenic low back pain need to be further appraised in larger samples and more in-depth studies.
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Pain is one of the most devastating symptoms for cancer patients. One third of patients who experience pain do not receive effective treatment. A key barrier to effective pain management is lack of routine measurement and monitoring of pain. Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) are recommended for measuring cancer pain. However, evidence to guide the selection of the most appropriate measure to identify and monitor cancer pain is limited. A systematic review of measurement properties of PROMs for pain in cancer patients is needed to identify the best validated measure for adoption to an electronic platform. ⋯ The BPI-SF was the best performing measure across all properties evaluated through COSMIN. Better quality validation studies of PROMs for cancer pain are needed to explore the full range of measurement properties. Utilizing mHealth applications to measure pain in cancer patients is an innovative approach worthy of further investigation.
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Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) can be beneficial for low back and radicular pain. A short trial of SCS evaluates the potential effectiveness of this therapy for a specific patient, while also decreasing the likelihood of a failed permanent implant. While rare, an epidural abscess is difficult to diagnose based on its nonspecific and unreliable clinical presentation. ⋯ An epidural abscess can rapidly arise from an SCS trial despite strict aseptic technique and prophylactic pre-procedural antibiotics. Spinal epidural abscesses are being detected earlier, and an increasing number of patients are being managed medically. However, it may be challenging to differentiate focal back pain from acute or chronic pain, expected post-procedural pain, and a new entity such as an abscess.
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The present study sought to examine associations between the pain-catastrophizing subcomponents and multiple pain-related outcomes in Japanese individuals with chronic pain. ⋯ The present results suggested the important role of helplessness across cultural backgrounds. It also provides guidance on the application of cognitive behavioral techniques for chronic pain management in Japan.