Pain
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Cancer in bone is frequently a result of metastases from distant sites, particularly from the breast, lung, and prostate. Pain is a common and often severe pathological feature of cancers in bone, and is a significant impediment to the maintenance of quality of life of patients living with bone metastases. Cancer cell lines have been demonstrated to release significant amounts of the neurotransmitter and cell-signalling molecule l-glutamate via the system xC(-) cystine/glutamate antiporter. ⋯ Animals treated with sulfasalazine displayed reduced nociceptive behaviours and an extended time until the onset of behavioural evidence of pain. Animals treated with a lower dose of (S)-4-carboxyphenylglycine did not display this reduction in nociceptive behaviour. These results suggest that a reduction in glutamate secretion from cancers in bone with the system xC(-) inhibitor sulfasalazine may provide some benefit for treating the often severe and intractable pain associated with bone metastases.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
Comparison of postoperative pain in the first and second knee in staged bilateral total knee arthroplasty: clinical evidence of enhanced pain sensitivity following surgical injury.
Staged bilateral total knee arthroplasty (TKA) may provide an ideal clinical model for the study of central sensitization. In staged TKA, hyperalgesia may be induced as a result of repeated surgical injury possibly via central sensitization, which can decrease functional outcomes. Therefore, we hypothesized that in staged bilateral TKA, patients would have greater pain in the second operated knee than in the first. ⋯ Patients undergoing staged bilateral TKA experience greater postoperative pain in the second operated knee than the first. This suggests extension of hyperalgesia beyond the initially injured site to remote regions after surgical injury, in which central sensitization may be involved. Therapeutic approaches to reduce such hyperalgesia induced in the course of staged operations are required.
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We sought to systematically analyze the influence of dose of pain rehabilitation programs (PRPs) for patients with chronic low back pain (CLBP) on disability, work participation, and quality of life (QoL). Literature searches were performed in PubMed, Cochrane Library, Cinahl, and Embase up to October 2012, using MeSH terms, other relevant terms and free-text words. Randomized controlled trials in English, Dutch, and German, analyzing the effect of PRPs, were included. ⋯ Analyses showed that evaluation moment, number of disciplines, type of intervention, duration of intervention in weeks, percentage of women, and age influenced the outcomes of PRPs. The independent effect of dose variables could not be distinguished from content because these variables were strongly associated. Because dose variables were never studied separately or reported independently, we were not able to disentangle the relationship between dose, content, and effects of PRPs on disability, work participation, and QoL.