Articles: chronic.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Novel 10-kHz High-frequency Therapy (HF10 Therapy) Is Superior to Traditional Low-frequency Spinal Cord Stimulation for the Treatment of Chronic Back and Leg Pain: The SENZA-RCT Randomized Controlled Trial.
Current treatments for chronic pain have limited effectiveness and commonly known side effects. Given the prevalence and burden of intractable pain, additional therapeutic approaches are desired. Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) delivered at 10 kHz (as in HF10 therapy) may provide pain relief without the paresthesias typical of traditional low-frequency SCS. The objective of this randomized, parallel-arm, noninferiority study was to compare long-term safety and efficacy of SCS therapies in patients with back and leg pain. ⋯ HF10 therapy promises to substantially impact the management of back and leg pain with broad applicability to patients, physicians, and payers.
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Observational Study
Up-regulation of Cathepsin G in the Development of Chronic Postsurgical Pain: An Experimental and Clinical Genetic Study.
Proteases have been shown to modulate pain signaling in the spinal cord and may contribute to the development of chronic postsurgical pain. By using peripheral inflammation in rats as a chronic pain model, the authors identified the deregulation of proteases and their inhibitors as a hallmark of chronic pain development using a genome-wide screening approach. ⋯ This study demonstrated that CTSG is a pronociceptive mediator in both animal model and human study. CTSG represents a new target for pain control and a potential marker to predict patients who are prone to develop chronic pain after surgery.
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Although patients may find it difficult to describe their breathing discomfort, most are able to select statements among a list to describe their experience. The primary objective of this study was to examine sensitivity and specificity of descriptors of breathing discomfort prospectively in patients with common respiratory conditions as well as those patients who had refractory dyspnea. ⋯ Although no descriptor achieved satisfactory sensitivity and specificity for identifying a particular condition, chest "tightness" was unique for asthma, whereas "shallow breathing" was unique for interstitial lung disease. Affective descriptors were associated with high anxiety scores.