Pain
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Comparative Study
Phantom phenomena in mastectomized patients and their relation to chronic and acute pre-mastectomy pain.
Chronic and acute pre-mastectomy pain as well as prevalence and characteristics of phantom phenomena following mastectomy were investigated by interview in a sample of 39 women who had undergone unilateral breast amputation. Twenty of 39 participants reported phantom sensations in the breast. Nine of the participants with phantom sensations experienced phantom pain and 11 non-painful phantom sensations. ⋯ This difference may be explained by the absence of kinesthesis and the small representation of the human breast. Seven of the 39 participants experienced chronic and six acute breast pain prior to the amputation. The amount of chronic pre-mastectomy breast pain weighted by the amount of involved tissue was significantly higher among participants with non-painful phantom sensations, compared to women with painful phantoms and those without phantom phenomena.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Clinical Trial
Pain and analgesic response after third molar extraction and other postsurgical pain.
There is uncertainty over whether the patient group in which acute pain studies are conducted (pain model) has any influence on the estimate of analgesic efficacy. Data from four recently updated systematic reviews of aspirin 600/650 mg, paracetamol 600/650 mg, paracetamol 1000 mg and ibuprofen 400 mg were used to investigate the influence of pain model. Area under the pain relief versus time curve equivalent to at least 50% maximum pain relief over 6 h was used as the outcome measure. ⋯ The event rate with placebo was systematically statistically lower for dental than postsurgical pain for all four treatments. Event rates with analgesics, RB and NNT were infrequently different between the pain models. Systematic difference in the estimate of analgesic efficacy between dental and postsurgical pain models remains unproven, and, on balance, no major difference is likely.