Articles: pain-measurement.
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Best Pract Res Clin Anaesthesiol · Sep 2019
ReviewPain measurement and critical review of analgesic trials: pain scores, functional pain measurements, limits and bias of clinical trials.
Randomized clinical trials designed to assess analgesic agents and/or techniques used for postoperative pain control have several limitations, which are addressed in this article. Efficacy of analgesics cannot be limited to the evaluation of pain intensity or the amount of opioid rescue medication, but it also means to evaluate parameters such as the delay and duration of the effect, the number of patients with satisfactory pain control, and side effects. Because combination of analgesics is the standard of care in clinical practice, its value also needs to be documented. Eventually, analgesic treatments have to be considered in the settings of postoperative supportive care and enhanced recovery programmes after surgery.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Sep 2019
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Pragmatic Clinical TrialBilateral Thoracic Paravertebral Blocks Compared to Thoracic Epidural Analgesia After Midline Laparotomy: A Pragmatic Noninferiority Clinical Trial.
Bilateral paravertebral block (PVB) is a suitable alternative to thoracic epidural analgesia (TEA) for abdominal surgeries. This randomized clinical trial aims to determine if PVB is noninferior to TEA in terms of analgesia after midline laparotomy. ⋯ As a component of multimodal analgesia, bilateral PVB provides noninferior analgesia compared to TEA for midline laparotomy.
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Chronic pain in adults with sickle cell disease (SCD) may be the result of altered processing in the central nervous system, as indicated by quantitative sensory testing (QST). Sensory pain quality descriptors on the McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ) are indicators of typical or altered pain mechanisms but have not been validated with QST-derived classifications. ⋯ Our study is the first to examine the association between MPQ sensory pain quality descriptors and QST-derived classifications in adults with SCD. Our findings provide the basis for the development of a MPQ subscale with potential as a mechanism-based screening tool for neuropathic pain.
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To identify and describe available instruments that can be used to screen patients with acute or subacute low back pain for a chronic low back pain trajectory. ⋯ This review identified numerous instruments developed to assess the likelihood of chronic low back pain in acute and subacute low back pain populations. Of the instruments reviewed, the STarT Back Screening Tool and the Örebro Musculoskeletal Pain Questionnaire demonstrated superior predictive power compared with other instruments. Both screening tools offer evidence of validation, translation into different languages and international application, and usage in various health care settings and provide data on predictive power.