Articles: neuralgia.
-
J Pain Symptom Manage · Nov 1996
Postherpetic neuralgia and its treatment: a retrospective survey of 191 patients.
One hundred and ninety-one patients with postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) in whom treatment was begun 3 or more months after acute herpes zoster (HZ) were retrospectively considered. Relieved (> or = 75% fall in visual analogue score for worst pain within last 24 hr) and unrelieved groups were subdivided into those who had and those who had not received antiviral treatment for their acute shingles. More than 90% of all patients experienced allodynia with a clinically evident sensory deficit for temperature and/or pinprick sensation. ⋯ It is recommended that elderly patients be given low-dose antidepressant on diagnosis of shingles, and asked to report back in 6 weeks. If they are pain-free at this interval, low-dose antidepressant should be continued for another month or so and then stopped. If, however, pain is present at 6 weeks, the dose of antidepressant should be increased and the patient reviewed every 2 months.
-
Neuropathic pain following nerve injury is believed to involve excitatory amino acids (EAAs) and Ca2+-mediated neuronal plastic changes in the central nervous system (CNS). This study was designed to investigate the changes in glutamate and aspartate contents in the dorsal half of the spinal cord following chronic constrictive injury (CCI) of the rat common sciatic nerve. We also examined the changes in intracellular calcium ion concentration ([Ca2+]i) of the spinal dorsal horn in transverse spinal slices in the same animal model. ⋯ MK-801 suppressed the increases in the contents of glutamate and aspartate and in [Ca2+]i on days 4 and 7. However, the ipsilateral contents of glutamate and aspartate significantly increased on day 14 (P < 0.001 and 0.003, respectively); the increased [Ca2+]i was also observed on day 14 (P < 0.001), and the spatial pattern of the increased regions was similar to untreated CCI rats. We interpret these results to indicate that neuropathic hyperalgesia induced by CCI in the rat is associated with an increase in glutamate and aspartate contents and the subsequent activation of NMDA receptors, followed by an increase in [Ca2+]i within dorsal horn of the spinal cord.
-
We studied forty patients with Zoster Herpes, twenty two of them, with this acute disease, eighteen with postherpetic neuralgia, to those that were considered chronic. The evaluation of the effect of INF alpha 2b, in the secondary pain of Zoster Herpes acute disease, in the patients with chronic severe secondary neuralgia they shared; the evolution with the treatment for half for visual pain analog scale in both groups the patients with acute pain, entered for visual pain analog scale between 10 and two points, with medium of 8.2 SD 2.1. ⋯ Most of the patients with acute pain was of 6 a 0 points with the medium a 0.27 y SD: 1,2 in the chronics went from. 6 to 0 points with a medium of 1.27 (SD:2.4), with a significative difference for t Student for comparation the initial scale in final in both groups of (p < 0.0001). The comparation of the best days, the disease bettered in acute quicker than the chronics with significance difference: (p < 0.001).
-
J Pain Symptom Manage · Oct 1996
Clinical TrialEffects of intrathecal baclofen on chronic spinal cord injury pain.
The pain of 16 patients with spasticity secondary to spinal cord injury was assessed prior to intrathecal baclofen pump implantation and again 6 and 12 months postoperatively. Chronic pain was delineated into neurogenic and musculoskeletal components, noting changes in nature, quality, and severity of pain (visual analogue scale) and use of analgesic medications. Twelve of 16 patients had chronic pain preoperatively and were included in the study. ⋯ Postoperatively, at both 6- and 12-month intervals, seven patients with neurogenic pain (78%) demonstrated no significant change in pain severity, while in five patients (83%) musculoskeletal pain decreased significantly. Two patients with neurogenic pain (22%) demonstrated an increase in pain severity at both 6- and 12-month intervals. This study suggests that intrathecal baclofen reduces chronic musculoskeletal pain associated with spasticity but does not decrease chronic neurogenic spinal cord injury pain.
-
J Pain Symptom Manage · Sep 1996
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical TrialResponse to intravenous lidocaine infusion predicts subsequent response to oral mexiletine: a prospective study.
The local anesthetic sodium-channel blockers lidocaine and mexiletine reduce spontaneous and evoked activity in experimental neuroma models and have been reported to relieve a variety of clinical neuropathic pain conditions. The predictive value of relief from an intravenous lidocaine infusion (IVL) for subsequent relief from a 4-week trial of oral mexiletine was assessed in a prospective study of nine subjects with chronic neuropathic pain of peripheral origin. Subjects received IVL, 2 mg/kg and 5 mg/kg, over 45 min during separate sessions in random order under double-blind conditions. ⋯ Subsequent response to oral mexiletine was significantly correlated with the average response to the two IVL. Mexiletine dose and blood levels were not correlated with pain relief. The results suggest that IVL may be a valuable tool in selecting patients for oral therapy with analogous drugs.