Articles: chronic.
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Moderate to severe chronic pain affects 1 in 5 adults and its impact increases with age. People with chronic pain that interferes with their lives have an increased risk of mortality. Identifying how interfering chronic pain can lead to mortality may highlight potential intervention strategies. ⋯ The strongest mediating factors for the relationship between troubling pain and mortality were functional limitation (hazard ratio 1.31; 95% confidence interval 1.20-1.39), symptoms preventing walking quarter of a mile (1.45 [1.35-1.58]), physical inactivity (1.14 [1.10-1.20]), and poor self-rated health (1.32 [1.23-1.41]). Mediators of the relationship between troubling pain and mortality provide targets for preventive health programmes. Interventions to improve general health, activity, and function could improve long-term survival in patients with this clinical problem.
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A 68-year-old man with a history of chronic lymphocytic leukemia well controlled on ibrutinib, hypertension, obesity, and a remote history of smoking (10 pack-years) presented with increasing dyspnea on exertion and cough. He had previously finished two courses of oral antibiotics for his symptoms without significant improvement. On presentation, he had no fevers or sputum production.
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: The management of soft-tissue defects following surgery for chronic osteomyelitis of the tibia is challenging. It often requires complex reconstructive procedures, especially when the distal third of the tibia is involved. We present a relatively simple method of addressing these defects. ⋯ The sural Island musculo fasciocutaneous flap is a reliable source of richly vascularized soft tissue for the management of dead space and soft-tissue defects in chronic osteomyelitis of the tibia. It has the added advantage of providing sizeable tissue, with good reach to all segments of the tibia.
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The use of spinal cord stimulator (SCS) treatment has been particularly effective as an adjunct in treating mixed neuropathic, nociceptive, and radicular pain conditions. There are no published studies on the use of SCS for chronic pain syndrome after laparoscopic cholecystectomy. We successfully used an SCS on a 31-year-old woman with a 4-year history of intractable right-sided subcostal pain after laparoscopic cholecystectomy. This case provides strong evidence that SCS should be considered as a treatment option for chronic postsurgical pain after laparoscopic cholecystectomy not amenable to standard therapies.