Pain research & management : the journal of the Canadian Pain Society = journal de la société canadienne pour le traitement de la douleur
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The impact of telephone consultations between pain specialists and primary care physicians regarding the care of patients with chronic pain is unknown. ⋯ While telephone consultations are clearly an acceptable strategy for knowledge translation, additional strategies may be required to actually impact patient outcomes.
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Understanding the size and shape of radiofrequency lesions is important to reduce side effects when applied to patients. ⋯ The Tew electrode produces lesions following the contour of the tip, and the internal radius is larger than the external and distal radius. The best combination of temperature and time for lesioning using the Tew electrode is 80 °C, for 60 s to 90 s.
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To determine whether the prevalence of opioid use among patients requiring elective same-day admission (SDA) surgery is greater than the 2.5% prevalence found in the general population. Secondary objectives were to assess compliance with expert recommendations on acute pain management in opioid-tolerant patients and to examine clinical outcomes. ⋯ Opioid use is more common in SDA surgical patients than in the general population and is most prevalent within orthopedic and neurosurgery patients. Uptake of expert opinion on the management of acute pain in the opioid tolerant patient population is lacking.
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Despite numerous pharmacological approaches, there are no common analgesic drugs that produce meaningful relief for the majority of patients with neuropathic pain. Although nitrous oxide (N2O) is a weak analgesic that acts via opioid-dependent mechanisms, it is also an antagonist of the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR). The NMDAR plays a critical role in the development of pain sensitization induced by nerve injury. ⋯ These preclinical results suggest that N2O is advantageous for long-lasting neuropathic pain relief after sciatic nerve injury compared with other drugs used in humans such as gabapentinoids or NMDAR antagonists. The present preclinical study provides a rationale for developing comparative clinical studies.