Burns : journal of the International Society for Burn Injuries
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Randomized Controlled Trial
The effect of jaw relaxation on pain anxiety during burn dressings: randomised clinical trial.
The purpose of this randomised clinical trial (RCT) was to determine the effect of jaw relaxation on pain anxiety related to dressing changes in burn injuries. ⋯ Nurses can independently decrease the pain anxiety of patients with burns and its subsequent physical and psychological burden by teaching the simple and inexpensive technique of jaw relaxation. Further research is needed to study the effect of this technique on pain anxiety of patients suffering from other painful procedures.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
A four arm, double blind, randomized and placebo controlled study of pregabalin in the management of post-burn pruritus.
Post-burn itch is a distressing symptom in burns rehabilitation and its treatment often proves frustrating for the patient and the multidisciplinary burns team. Traditionally, the mainstay of antipruritic therapy for decades has been antihistamines and massage with emollients. With a better understanding of the neurophysiology of itch emerged a new dimension in the treatment of post-burn pruritus. ⋯ This far exceeded the response in the antihistaminic and placebo groups (23.9% and 9.2% respectively). We conclude that moderate to severe pruritus (VAS 6-10) should be treated with a systemic, centrally acting agent like pregabalin or gabapentin to eliminate itch or bring it down to tolerable limits. Patients with mild itch having VAS scores between 4 and 5 may be better served with addition of pregabalin even if massage and antihistaminics can control post-burn itch to a reasonable extent because of quicker, predictable and complete response, along with anxiolysis.