Annals of medicine
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Basic scientific evidence suggests that an analgesic intervention made before surgery will produce a better outcome than the same intervention made after surgery. The evidence from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) which tested this hypothesis in patients is reviewed. Four studies with paracetamol or NSAIDs did not show any pre-emptive effect. ⋯ The opioid studies which did show a pre-emptive effect had other technical weaknesses. One way to combat lack of power would be to combine data (meta-analysis). This is very difficult in this field because of the outcome measures which investigators are using.
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This paper describes the responses of peripheral and central visceral nociceptive systems to acute injury and discusses these observations in relation to the concept of 'pre-emptive analgesia'. Visceral nociceptors are known to respond to injury but are also known to become sensitized to non-noxious stimuli during the inflammatory process that follows intense noxious stimulation. ⋯ Therefore it is proposed that the concept of 'pre-emptive analgesia', as such, has no neurophysiological basis. Any analgesic procedure aimed at reducing postoperative pain must not only prevent the arrival in the CNS of the initial afferent barrage evoked in nociceptive endings but also reduce or eliminate the persistent discharges of sensitized nociceptors during the inflammatory repair process that are critically important for the maintenance of the central pain state.
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Vulvodynia is a complex multifactorial and multidisciplinary clinical syndrome of unexplained vulvar pain, sexual dysfunction, and psychological disability. Because of the absence of abnormal physical findings among such patients, vulvodynia was long thought to be solely a psychosomatic syndrome. The incidence or prevalence of vulvodynia has not been well studied. ⋯ The most common subtypes are vulvar vestibulitis syndrome, cyclic vulvovaginitis and dysesthetic vulvodynia. Simple practice guidelines can be developed to facilitate the evaluation and management of such patients. Systematic epidemiological, etiological and therapeutic studies of vulvodynia are urgently needed.
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The concept and value of 'multimodal' or 'balanced' analgesia in the treatment of postoperative pain is reviewed. Based upon the relatively few multimodal studies compared to unimodal studies, it is concluded that a combination of analgesics will improve pain relief including movement-associated pain. Since analgesic combination therapy is rational, further studies are needed to evaluate the optimal combination for each surgical procedure, as well as to assess the risk of side effects and need for surveillance in large-scale studies.