Articles: palliative-care.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Apr 1992
Randomized Controlled TrialA randomized double-blind crossover trial of intravenous lidocaine in the treatment of neuropathic cancer pain.
In a randomized, double-blind, crossover study, we evaluated the effect of intravenous lidocaine (5 mg/kg body weight over 30 min) on the neuropathic pain of advanced cancer patients. Pain intensity, assessed by a visual analogue scale, did not show any significant difference between lidocaine and placebo infusion. The blinded choice of patients and investigators also suggested no significant improvement from lidocaine when given by this regimen. Intravenous lidocaine does not appear to have a significant analgesic effect on neuropathic cancer pain.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Apr 1992
ReviewThe role of patient-controlled analgesia in the management of cancer pain.
The technology of patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) has gained wide acceptance for use in cancer pain management. Assessment of technological innovations is necessary in order to evaluate the most appropriate use from the perspective of the individual patient and broader health policy perspective. This paper reviews the literature related to PCA use in chronic cancer pain, appropriate and inappropriate uses of PCA, as well as several professional issues and directions for future PCA use. Professional dialogue regarding the standard of PCA care is necessary for optimum use of this technology for relief of chronic pain.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Effect of topical capsaicin in the therapy of painful osteoarthritis of the hands.
Topical capsaicin 0.075% was evaluated for the treatment of the painful joints of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and osteoarthritis (OA) in a 4 week double blind, placebo controlled randomized trial. Twenty-one patients were selected, all of whom had either RA (n = 7) or OA (n = 14) with painful involvement of the hands. Assessments of pain (visual analog scale), functional capacity, morning stiffness, grip strength, joint swelling and tenderness (dolorimeter) were performed before randomization. ⋯ Capsaicin reduced tenderness (p less than 0.02) and pain (p less than 0.02) associated with OA, but not RA as compared with placebo. A local burning sensation was the only adverse effect noted. These findings suggest that topical capsaicin is a safe and potentially useful drug for the treatment of painful OA of the hands.
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Exposure to sauna heat during sauna bathing raises the skin temperature of the bather near the hot pain perception threshold and enhances sympathetic activity. Self-reports provided by regular bathers of changes in intensity of their ongoing pain might, therefore, add novel information on the effect of intense heat on various pain conditions. We interviewed consecutive patients attending our pain clinic over a period of 1 year about their pain-related responses to sauna bathing and controlled the results by quantitated somatosensory tests. ⋯ By contrast, mechanical allodynia was present in 48% of patients with peripheral neuropathic pain and in 54% of patients with central pain. The results speak against an important role for C-afferent or sympathetic postganglionic fibres in most subclasses of neuropathic pain. Animal models of neuropathic pain should be critically viewed against this finding.