Journal of pain research
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Journal of pain research · Jan 2014
Clinical experience with desvenlafaxine in treatment of pain associated with diabetic peripheral neuropathy.
To assess the safety and efficacy of the serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor desvenlafaxine in adults with painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN). ⋯ Desvenlafaxine was effective in relieving pain associated with DPN at doses of 200 and 400 mg/day, and improved activity impairment at all doses assessed. Desvenlafaxine was generally well-tolerated in the short-term and long-term studies.
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Journal of pain research · Jan 2014
Thoracic epidural infusion with chloroprocaine for postoperative analgesia following epicardial pacemaker placement in an infant.
In critically ill neonates and infants, major interventions, including thoracotomy, may result in significant postoperative respiratory insufficiency and pain leading to the need for postoperative mechanical ventilation. Although there are many potential options for providing postoperative analgesia, there continues to be expanding use of regional anesthesia in this population. ⋯ We report the use of thoracic epidural anesthesia using a continuous infusion of chloroprocaine to provide analgesia following thoracotomy and epicardial pacemaker placement in an infant. The perioperative plan was complicated by comorbid conditions including congenital complete heart block, recent rhinovirus infection with residual respiratory involvement, and prematurity.
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Journal of pain research · Jan 2014
Effect of delayed intrathecal administration of capsaicin on neuropathic pain induced by chronic constriction injury of the sciatic nerve in rats.
The current study was designed to examine the antinociceptive effect of intrathecally administered capsaicin, a transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 receptor agonist, in a rat model of neuropathic pain induced by unilateral sciatic nerve chronic constriction injury. ⋯ Our data suggest that intrathecal capsaicin could significantly attenuate thermal hyperalgesia, depending on the time when the drug is given after nerve injury, and that the antinociceptive efficacy of intrathecal capsaicin positively correlates with the previously reported dynamic profile of spinal transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 activity after nerve injury.
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Journal of pain research · Jan 2014
The importance of catastrophizing for successful pharmacological treatment of peripheral neuropathic pain.
Catastrophizing may be a negative predictor of pain-related outcomes. We evaluated the impact of catastrophizing upon success of first-line pharmacotherapy in the management of neuropathic pain (NeP) due to peripheral polyneuropathy. ⋯ Catastrophizing exerts maladaptive effects on outcomes with pharmacotherapy in NeP patients. Detection of catastrophizing during clinical visits when pharmacological therapy is being considered can be a predictive factor for patient outcomes.
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Journal of pain research · Jan 2014
More than meets the eye: visual attention biases in individuals reporting chronic pain.
The present study used eye-tracking technology to assess whether individuals who report chronic pain direct more attention to sensory pain-related words than do pain-free individuals. A total of 113 participants (51 with chronic pain, 62 pain-free) were recruited. Participants completed a dot-probe task, viewing neutral and sensory pain-related words while their reaction time and eye movements were recorded. ⋯ As well, participants with chronic pain fixated significantly more frequently on pain words than did pain-free participants. In contrast, none of the effects for reaction time were significant. The results support the hypothesis that individuals with chronic pain display specific attentional biases toward pain-related stimuli and demonstrate the value of eye-tracking technology in measuring differences in visual attention variables.