Opioids
Spinal Stimulation for the Treatment of Intractable Spine and Limb Pain: A Systematic Review of RCTs and Meta-Analysis
To synthesize the evidence regarding the effect of spinal stimulation (SS) vs medical therapy (MT) and the effect of newer SS technologies vs conventional SS on pain reduction in patients with intractable spine or limb pain.Advanced Innovations for Pain
Chronic pain represents one of the most important public health problems in terms of both the number of patients afflicted and health care costs. Most patients with chronic pain are treated with medications as the mainstay of therapy, and yet most medically treated patients continue to report ongoing pain. Additionally, adverse effects from pain medications represent a major challenge for clinicians and patients. Spinal cord stimulation and intrathecal drug delivery systems are well-established techniques that have been utilized for over 25 years.Contemporary Management of Neuropathic Pain for the Primary Care Physician
Neuropathic pain (NP), caused by a primary lesion or dysfunction in the nervous system, affects approximately 4 million people in the United States each year. It is associated with many diseases, including diabetic peripheral neuropathy, postherpetic neuralgia, human immunodeficiency virus-related disorders, and chronic radiculopathy. Major pathophysiological mechanisms include peripheral sensitization, sympathetic activation, disinhibition, and central sensitization. Unlike most acute pain conditions, NP is extremely difficult to treat successfully with conventional analgesics.Complex Regional Pain Syndrome
Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), formerly known as reflex sympathetic dystrophy, is a regional, posttraumatic, neuropathic pain problem that most often affects 1 or more limbs. Like most medical conditions, early diagnosis and treatment increase the likelihood of a successful outcome. Accordingly, patients with clinical signs and symptoms of CRPS after an injury should be referred immediately to a physician with expertise in evaluating and treating this condition. Physical therapy is the cornerstone and first-line treatment for CRPS.Approaches for Management of Postoperative Pain: The authors reply
We appreciate the opportunity to reply to Dr. Wang's letter. He asserts that, in our recent review, we failed to mention the common practice of administering analgesic medication to the patient with postoperative pain. In the opening paragraph of our article, we mentioned conventional parenterally administered opioid analgesia by describing a study in which 75% of patients were inadequately controlled with this treatment.1 We also pointed out other studies that had similar results.2,3 A discussion of patient-controlled analgesia was included, and, as mentioned, many studies have proved the superiority of this method over conventional intermittent intramuscular administration of analgesia.
