Pain medicine : the official journal of the American Academy of Pain Medicine
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To report the relief from refractory focal post-radiation and/or postsurgical cancer pain after local treatment with onabotulinumtoxinA. ⋯ Local treatment with onabotulinumtoxinA can significantly reduce pain and improve quality of life in cancer patients suffering from pain in the area of surgery and radiation and was well tolerated in cancer patients.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
The effect of a translating research into practice (TRIP)--cancer intervention on cancer pain management in older adults in hospice.
Pain is a major concern for individuals with cancer, particularly older adults who make up the largest segment of individuals with cancer and who have some of the most unique pain challenges. One of the priorities of hospice is to provide a pain-free death, and while outcomes are better in hospice, patients still die with poorly controlled pain. ⋯ Findings indicate a number of factors that may impact implementation of multicomponent interventions, including unique characteristics and culture of the setting, the level of involvement with the change processes, competing priorities and confounding factors, and complexity of the innovation (practice change). Our results suggest that future study is needed on specific factors to target when implementing a community-based hospice intervention, including determining and measuring intervention fidelity prospectively.
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The most feared drug-induced complication is fatal cardiac arrest. Torsades de pointes (TdP) is a polymorphic ventricular tachycardia occurring in the setting of a QT interval prolongation and is the most frequent type of drug-induced pro-arrhythmia. The most common mechanism of QT prolongation and TdP is blockade of the rapid component of the delayed rectifier repolarizing potassium conductance IKr. ⋯ Due to factors such as inhibition of the parasympathetic nervous system, prevention of hypoxia and hypercarbia, and attention to serum electrolytes, TdP is a very rare occurrence in the perioperative environment. Methadone, however, is typically given to outpatients, over long periods, and in combination with agents that inhibit its metabolism or are QT prolonging in their own right. Thus, pre- and post-drug electrocardiograms may be appropriate when prescribing methadone for outpatients, while the much lower risk for TdP (and the difficulties inherent in QT measurement in the perioperative period) render this approach unfruitful and worthy of reevaluation.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Early pain reduction can predict treatment response: results of integrated efficacy analyses of a once-daily gastroretentive formulation of gabapentin in patients with postherpetic neuralgia.
The objectives of this study were to identify and determine the validity of early decision criteria following once-daily gastroretentive gabapentin (G-GR) treatment in patients with postherpetic neuralgia (PHN). ⋯ Early response was a reliable predictor of final response. This approach holds promise for aiding clinicians in decision making regarding the need for alternative or supplemental treatment during G-GR therapy for PHN.