Articles: chronic.
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J Clin Monit Comput · Apr 2015
ReviewIntrathecal drug delivery for chronic pain management-scope, limitations and future.
Intrathecal drug delivery system (IDDS) is a targeted therapy system for treating pain and muscle spasm. IDDS is recommended for the treatment of chronic pain which does not respond to optimal medical management. The aim of this review article is to give an up to date and concise account of the use of IDDS. ⋯ IDDS is an invasive technique, which can result in severe morbidity and mortality. The up to date knowledge gained from this article along with the recommendations for improving safety in patients receiving IDDS, makes it a valuable resource for healthcare practitioners. Continued research, including outcome studies of this therapy continues to be necessary.
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Critical care medicine · Apr 2015
Characteristics and Outcomes of Patients Admitted to ICU Following Activation of the Medical Emergency Team: Impact of Introducing a Two-Tier Response System.
To determine the impact of introducing a two-tier system for responding to deteriorating ward patients on ICU admissions after medical emergency team review. ⋯ The introduction of a two-tier response to clinical deterioration increased ICU admissions triggered by cardiorespiratory criteria, whereas admissions triggered by more subjective criteria decreased. The overall ICU mortality for patients admitted following medical emergency team review decreased, suggesting that the two-tier system led to earlier recognition of reversible pathology or a decision not to escalate the level of care.
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Sleep disturbance is a commonly reported co-morbidity in chronic pain patients, and conversely, disruption of sleep can cause acute and long-lasting hypersensitivity to painful stimuli. The underlying mechanisms of sleep disruption-induced pain hypersensitivity are poorly understood. Confounding factors of previous studies have been the sleep disruption protocols, such as the 'pedestal over water' or 'inverted flower pot' methods, that can cause large stress responses and therefore may significantly affect pain outcome measures. ⋯ These results show that acute and low-stress sleep disruption causes mechanical and heat hypersensitivity in rats. Mechanical and heat hypersensitivity exhibited differential sensitivity to pharmacological agents, thus suggesting dissociable mechanisms for those two modalities. Ultimately, this model could help identify underlying mechanisms linking sleep disruption and hypersensitivity.
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Fibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic widespread pain condition linked to central sensitization. Altered excitability of sensorimotor cortex has been proposed as an underlying pathology of FM. This study aimed to investigate intracortical excitability of the primary somatosensory cortex (S1) and its potential role in clinical pain in patients with FM. ⋯ For both the N20m-P35m and the P35m in the left hemisphere, PPS ratios were positively associated with the sensory pain on the short-form McGill Pain Questionnaire. This study demonstrated that intracortical inhibition in the S1 is compromised bilaterally in patients with FM, and the extent of disinhibition can be closely associated with increased clinical pain. Our results suggest that changes of intracortical inhibition of the S1 may contribute to the pathophysiology of FM pain.
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Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a common complication of numerous diseases, including left-sided heart diseases and chronic lung diseases and/or hypoxia, where PH is associated with exercise limitation and a worse prognosis. Other forms of PH include pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), chronic thromboembolic PH (CTEPH), and PH with unclear multifactorial mechanisms. Over the past decade, it has been documented that systolic pulmonary artery pressure (sPAP) may help estimate mean pulmonary artery pressure (mPAP) in adults with high accuracy and reasonably good precision (mPAP = 0.61 sPAP + 2 mm Hg). ⋯ Pressure redundancy may be explained by the dependence of PA compliance upon mPAP. The 25 mm Hg threshold used to define PH accurately corresponds to an sPAP of 38 mm Hg. Although the limits of the echocardiographic estimation of sPAP are widely documented, results from invasive studies may furnish an evidence-based sPAP-derived mPAP value, potentially useful in the multiparameter echocardiographic approach currently used to diagnose and follow patients with PH.