Pain medicine : the official journal of the American Academy of Pain Medicine
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The aim of this study was to determine whether ranolazine, a new medication that targets sodium channels to improve cardiac ischemia and angina, could be an effective analgesic agent for pain associated with demyelination injury. ⋯ Ranolazine exerts broad-spectrum actions to reduce mechanical allodynia that is associated with peripheral demyelination injury.
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To provide access to professional development opportunities for health care professionals, especially in rural Australian regions, consistent with recommendations in the Australian National Pain Strategy and state government policy. ⋯ This policy-into-practice educational program is feasible to implement in rural Western Australia (WA). While preliminary data are encouraging, a further randomized controlled trial is recommended.
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The dorsal root ganglion (DRG), in the not too distant past, had been thought of as a passive organ not involved in the development of abnormal aberrent neuropathic pain (NP), but merely metabolically "supporting" physiologic functions between the peripheral nervous system (PNS) and the central nervous system (CNS). New information regarding metabolic change within the DRG has dispelled this supportive passive role and suggests that the DRG is an active, not a passive, organ, in the process of the development of chronic pain. ⋯ The DRG is as involved in the process of generating NP as is the nociceptor and the dorsal horn of the spinal cord.
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Clinical Trial Observational Study
Pilot study of amitriptyline in the prophylactic treatment of medication-overuse headache: a 1-year follow-up.
This study aims to evaluate the long-term efficacy of low-dose amitriptyline combined with abrupt withdrawal in outpatients of medication-overuse headache (MOH) in an open-label design. ⋯ Given these results, early introduction of low-dose amitriptyline combined with abrupt withdrawal could be considered as a choice for patients with MOH.
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The Opioid Risk Tool (ORT) is a screening instrument for assessing the risk of opioid-related aberrant behavior in chronic noncancer pain (CNCP) patients. ⋯ Significant differences existed between this study population and the patient sample from which the ORT was derived. Limitations of this study are discussed. We concur with the authors of the original study that the ORT may not be applicable in different pain populations and settings. Based on our findings, we encourage caution in interpreting the ORT in general CNCP settings until further studies are performed.