European journal of pain : EJP
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Review Meta Analysis
Human brain mechanisms of pain perception and regulation in health and disease.
The perception of pain due to an acute injury or in clinical pain states undergoes substantial processing at supraspinal levels. Supraspinal, brain mechanisms are increasingly recognized as playing a major role in the representation and modulation of pain experience. These neural mechanisms may then contribute to interindividual variations and disabilities associated with chronic pain conditions. ⋯ The nociceptive system is now recognized as a sensory system in its own right, from primary afferents to multiple brain areas. Pain experience is strongly modulated by interactions of ascending and descending pathways. Understanding these modulatory mechanisms in health and in disease is critical for developing fully effective therapies for the treatment of clinical pain conditions.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
The effect of venlafaxine on ongoing and experimentally induced pain in neuropathic pain patients: a double blind, placebo controlled study.
The aim of this randomized double blind placebo controlled study was to investigate the effectiveness and the safety of venlafaxine XR 75 and 150 mg on ongoing pain and on quantitative sensory tests in 60 patients with neuropathic pain for 8 weeks. ⋯ The study showed significant effect of venlafaxine in the manifestations of hyperalgesia and temporal summation, but not on the ongoing pain intensity. Furthermore, the quantitative sensory tests provided complementing information to the clinical measures.
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There is a lack of valid epidemiological data on malignancy-associated pain in modern pediatric oncology. Pediatric oncology patients (self-assessment) and their parents from 28 hospitals were questioned using age-adapted, structured interviews and validated pain assessment tools. Pain intensity was measured by the NRS and Bieri faces scale. ⋯ Multivariate analyses depicted general physical condition either "severely reduced" (ASA status 3) (OR 4.0, 95% CI 1.1-14.7, p=0.037) or "moderately reduced" (ASA status 2) (OR 1.8, 95% CI 1.1-2.9, p=0.018), "in-patient status" (OR 1.8, 95% CI 1.2-2.9, p=0.010), and "co-morbidity present" (OR 3.5, 95% CI 1.1-10.7, p=0.030) as risk factors for severe to maximal pain. General anesthesia was the only factor significantly (OR 0.14, 95% CI 0.05-0.39, p<0.01) associated with a reduction in the proportion of patients suffering severe to maximal pain during bone marrow aspiration. Our data emphasize both the importance of in-house acute pain control and the need for general anesthesia during painful procedures in pediatric oncology.
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Clinical Trial
Neuropsychological assessment of chronic non-malignant pain patients treated in a multidisciplinary pain centre.
The aim of the study was to investigate the influence of pain, sedation, pain medications and socio-demographics on cognitive functioning in chronic non-malignant pain patients. Chronic non-malignant pain patients (N=91) treated in a multidisciplinary pain centre were compared with age and sex matched healthy volunteers (N=64). Furthermore four subgroups of patients were examined: Group 1 (N=21) received no pain medications, group 2 (N=19) were in long-term oral opioid treatment, group 3 (N=18) were treated with antidepressants and/or anticonvulsants and group 4 (N=33) were treated with a combination of long-term oral opioids and antidepressants and/or anticonvulsants. ⋯ Treatment with opioids was associated with poorer performance of PASAT. High scores of PVAS and SVAS were associated with poor performance of PASAT and CRT, respectively. MMSE seems to be too insensitive for detecting the milder forms of cognitive impairment found in chronic non-malignant patients.
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Hypervigilance for pain-relevant stimuli has been associated with anxiety, fear of pain and anxiety sensitivity. This attentional bias has been primarily investigated in heterogeneous pain groups or pain-free controls, but has not been examined in pain conditions where anxiety and fear are likely to play a central role. Due to the intimate and interpersonal nature of genital pain experienced during sexual intercourse, Vulvar Vestibulitis Syndrome (VVS) constitutes an ideal sample in which to investigate the role of cognitive and affective factors in pain perception and maintenance. ⋯ VVS sufferers reported hypervigilance for coital pain and also exhibited a selective attentional bias towards pain stimuli on the emotional Stroop task as compared with controls. This effect was predicted by state and trait anxiety and fear of pain. According to these data, treament strategies for VVS should target anxiety and fear in addition to sensory systems.