Articles: low-back-pain.
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Anasthesiol Intensivmed Notfallmed Schmerzther · Sep 2021
[Procedure Specific Pain Therapy - the PROSPECT Idea].
Acute pain therapy following operative or interventional procedures has become a compulsory component of a modern perioperative patient management. A structured pain regimen has several clear advantages: it leads to an improvement of the patients' quality of life in the short term, it reduces perioperative morbidity in the medium term, it reduces pain chronification in the long term, at the same time improving the economic efficiency due to an accelerated mobilization, a reduction of the hospitalization and an avoidance of complication inherent costs. This article provides detailed information on the change of paradigm, away from a generalized and rather unspecific acute pain therapy towards a problem oriented procedure specific regimen. It points out two examples of the PROSPECT (PROcedure SPECific pain managemenT) methodology and explains its background.
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Radicular low back pain is difficult to treat and commonly encountered in the Emergency Department (ED). Pain associated with acute radiculopathy results in limited ability to work, function, and enjoy life, and is associated with increased risk of chronic opioid therapy. In this case report, we describe the first ED-delivered ultrasound-guided caudal epidural steroid injection (ESI) used to treat medication-refractory lumbar radiculopathy, which resulted in immediate and sustained resolution of pain. ⋯ A 56-year old man with a past medical history of chronic lumbar radiculopathy presented to the ED with acute low back and right lower-extremity pain. Based on history and physical examination, a right L5 radiculopathy was suspected. His pain was poorly controlled despite multimodal analgesia, at which point he was offered admission or an ultrasound-guided caudal ESI. The procedure was performed using dexamethasone, preservative-free normal saline, and preservative-free 1% lidocaine solution, after which the patient reported 100% resolution of his pain and requested discharge from the ED. Why Should an Emergency Physician Be Aware of This? The safety and efficacy of ultrasound-guided caudal ESIs have been established, but there is a paucity of literature exploring their application in the ED. We present a case of a refractory lumbar radiculopathy successfully treated with an ultrasound-guided caudal ESI. ED-performed epidurals can be one additional tool in the emergency physician arsenal to treat acute or chronic lumbar radiculopathy.
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Review
Self-reported prognostic factors in adults reporting neck or low back pain: An umbrella review.
Numerous systematic reviews have attempted to synthesize evidence on prognostic factors for predicting future outcomes such as pain, disability and return-to-work/work absence in neck and low back pain populations. ⋯ Although there was conflicting evidence for the strength of association with outcome, these factors may be used for identifying vulnerable subgroups or people able to self-manage. Further research can investigate the impact of using such prognostic information on treatment/referral decisions and patient outcomes.
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The Best Practices in Pain Management from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) describes interventional techniques as part of a continuum. Epidural injections are commonly utilized modalities in managing low back and lower extremity pain. Epidural injections were initially administered in 1901 where the first descriptions of caudal epidural with local anesthetic for low back pain appeared. Since then, multiple developments have occurred. Currently, epidural injections are provided by caudal, interlaminar, and transforaminal approaches. The comparative effectiveness of each modality has been studied. However, comparative assessment has been sparse. ⋯ Epidural injections with local anesthetic and steroids showed Level I evidence for transforaminal and interlaminar approaches, whereas with local anesthetic alone Level II evidence was demonstrated. In contrast, caudal epidural injections showed Level II evidence with local anesthetic with steroids or local anesthetic alone.