Articles: back-pain.
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Spinal epidural abscess (SEA) is a rare, catastrophic condition for which diagnostic delays are common. Our national group develops evidence-based guidelines, known as clinical management tools (CMT), to reduce high-risk misdiagnoses. We study whether implementation of our back pain CMT improved SEA diagnostic timeliness and testing rates in the emergency department (ED). ⋯ Back pain CMT implementation was associated with an increased rate of recommended imaging and laboratory testing in back pain. There was no associated reduction in the proportion of SEA cases with a related prior visit or time to SEA diagnosis.
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Interpatient variability is frequently observed among individuals with chronic low back pain (cLBP). This review aimed at identifying phenotypic domains and characteristics that account for interpatient variability in cLBP. We searched MEDLINE ALL (through Ovid), Embase Classic and EMBASE (through Ovid), Scopus, and CINAHL Complete (through EBSCOhost) databases. ⋯ Despite these findings, our review showed that the evidence on pain phenotyping still requires further investigation. The assessment of the methodological quality revealed several limitations. We recommend adopting a standard methodology to enhance the generalizability of the results and the implementation of a comprehensive and feasible assessment framework to facilitate personalized treatments in clinical settings.
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While patient reported outcome measures (PROMs) define value in spine surgery, several values such as minimal clinically important difference (MCID), substantial clinical benefit (SCB), and patient acceptable symptom state (PASS) help guide the interpretation of PROMs and identify thresholds of clinical significance. Significant variation exists in reported values and their calculation, so the primary objective of this study was to systematically review the spine surgery literature for metrics of clinical significance derived from PROMs. ⋯ III.
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Migraine oscillates between different states in association with internal homeostatic functions and biological rhythms that become more easily dysregulated in genetically susceptible individuals. Clinical and pre-clinical data on migraine pathophysiology support a primary role of the central nervous system (CNS) through 'dysexcitability' of certain brain networks, and a critical contribution of the peripheral sensory and autonomic signalling from the intracranial meningeal innervation. This review focuses on the most relevant back and forward translational studies devoted to the assessment of CNS dysfunctions involved in primary headaches and discusses the role they play in rendering the brain susceptible to headache states. ⋯ This review focuses on the most relevant back and forward translational studies showing the crucial role of top-down brain modulation in triggering and maintaining primary headache states and how these central dysfunctions may interact with personalized pain management strategies.
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Background Pain after a SARS-CoV-2 acute infection (post-COVID pain) is becoming a new healthcare emergency but remains underestimated and most likely undertreated due to a lack of recognition of the phenomenon and knowledge of the underlying pain mechanisms. Evidence supporting any particular treatment approach for the management of post-COVID pain is lacking. Large variability in the patient response to any standard pain treatments is clinically observed, which has led to calls for a personalized, tailored approach to treating patients with chronic post-COVID pain (i.e. 'precision pain medicine'). ⋯ Further, the consideration of other factors, such as gender, comorbidities, treatments received at the acute phase of infection for onset-associated COVID-19 symptoms, factors during hospitalization or the presence of emotional disturbances should be implemented into a treatment programme. Conclusions Accordingly, considering these factors, management of post-COVID pain should include multimodal pharmacological and non-pharmacological modalities targeting emotional/cognitive aspects (i.e. psychological and/or coping strategies), central sensitization-associated mechanisms (i.e. pain neuroscience education), exercise programmes as well as lifestyle interventions (e.g. nutritional support and sleep management). SIGNIFICANCE: This position paper presents an evidence-based clinical reasoning approach for precision management of post-COVID pain.