The Clinical journal of pain
-
The only agent approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for chronic intrathecal infusion for the treatment of chronic pain is morphine sulfate. In patients who do not experience adequate relief from intrathecal opioids, bupivacaine is frequently added to increase efficacy. The studies reported here were conducted to demonstrate the stability and compatibility of bupivacaine in a commonly used implantable infusion system and the long-term clinical safety of this therapy. ⋯ Bupivacaine is stable and compatible with a commonly used implantable drug infusion system. In this study, chronic supplementation of intrathecal opioids with bupivacaine was a safe method for providing continued management of chronic pain of cancer or noncancer origin.
-
This was a preliminary investigation of patients' beliefs about cannabinoids and the associations between those beliefs, beliefs about medication, and personal and pain variables with regard to patients' willingness to try cannabinoids as analgesics. ⋯ The concerns of patients with chronic pain about taking cannabinoids as analgesics may reduce their utility and efficacy; accurate information is required to counter this effect.
-
The study aimed to validate a new, multidimensional, multilingual instrument (the WHOQOL-100) for assessing QOL in chronic pain patients. ⋯ The WHOQOL-100 indicates significant improvements to QOL for those entering a PMP and is validated for the clinical assessment of chronic pain patients and for use in multi-national clinical trials, clinical governance and audit.