Articles: acute-pain.
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Low back pain (LBP) is the leading cause of disability worldwide, with prevalence doubling in the past 14 years. To date, prognostic screening tools display poor discrimination and offer no net benefit of screening over and above a 'treat all' approach. Characteristics of the primary sensory (S1) and motor (M1) cortices may predict the development of chronic LBP, yet the prognostic potential of these variables remains unknown. The Understanding persistent Pain Where it ResiDes (UPWaRD) study aims to determine whether sensorimotor cortex activity, an individual's capacity for plasticity and psychosocial factors in the acute stage of pain, predict LBP outcome at 6 months. This paper describes the methods and analysis plan for the development of the prediction model. ⋯ Ethical approval has been obtained from Western Sydney University Human Research Ethics Committee (H10465) and from Neuroscience Research Australia (SSA: 16/002). Dissemination will occur through presentations at national and international conferences and publications in international peer-reviewed journals.
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Quadratus lumborum block (QLB) is increasingly gaining popularity as a novel abdominal truncal block in abdominal surgery; however, the mechanism of QLB is not yet thoroughly illustrated. The focus of our study is transmuscular QLB (TMQLB), as the latest anatomical evidence shows that anesthetics spread into the thoracic paravertebral space to exert an analgesic effect. Therefore, we designed this study to compare TMQLB with thoracic paravertebral block (TPVB) in laparoscopic renal surgery in the hope of providing clinical evidence on the analgesic mechanism of TMQLB and its application in laparoscopic renal surgery. ⋯ This will the first randomized controlled trial to compare TMQLB with TPVB for analgesia in laparoscopic surgery. This trial aims to provide important clinical evidence to elaborate on the analgesic mechanism of TMQLB.