Articles: chronic.
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A standardized assessment of central sensitization can be performed with the Central Sensitization Inventory (CSI), an English questionnaire consisting of 25 items relating to current health symptoms. The aim of this study was to translate the CSI into Dutch, to perform a factor analysis to reveal the underlying structure, examine its discriminative power, and test-retest reliability. ⋯ The original CSI was translated into Dutch and did not reveal any problems during data acquisition. The domains represented by the 4 factors may be useful in setting up specific patient profiles and treatment targets. To conclude, the Dutch CSI revealed 4 distinguishable domains, showed good internal consistency for the total score and 3 out of 4 domains, good discriminative power, and excellent test-retest reliability.
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Observational Study
High-Resolution Three-Dimensional Computed Tomography for Assessing Complications Related to Intrathecal Drug Delivery.
The assessment of the functionality of intrathecal drug delivery (IDD) systems remains difficult and time-consuming. Catheter-related problems are still very common, and sometimes difficult to diagnose. ⋯ High-resolution 3D CT VRT is a non- invasive method that can identify IDD-related complications with more precision than axial CT and fluoroscopy.
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In the present study, we investigated the role of adenosine triphosphate (ATP)-sensitive potassium (KATP) channels in chronic morphine tolerance. ⋯ Cromakalim suppresses morphine-induced astrocyte activation significantly by suppressing the c-Jun N-terminal kinase pathway, resulting in a reduced release of interleukin-1β and the attenuation of morphine chronic antinociceptive tolerance.
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Chronic pain is more prevalent in women than in men, with increasing differences between sexes in advanced age. This could be caused by differences in sex hormone levels. We therefore studied the relationship between sex hormones and the prevalence and incidence of chronic pain. ⋯ Lower sex hormone levels are associated with chronic musculoskeletal pain, independent from lifestyle and health-related factors, in community-dwelling elderly women. These results suggest that sex hormones play a role in chronic pain and should be taken into account when a patient presents with chronic pain. Therefore, sex hormones may be a potential treatment target for these patients.