Pain medicine : the official journal of the American Academy of Pain Medicine
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Review
An Expedited Diagnostic Algorithm for Lumbosacral Pain: "The Best Likelihood Scenario Approach".
The logic behind diagnostic blocks is very straightforward. What has not been determined is the way diagnostic blocks can be best used. ⋯ "The Best Likelihood Scenario" might improve diagnostic accuracy while decreasing societal costs.
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The experiential acquisition of pain-related fear has been demonstrated by pairing a painful electrocutaneous stimulus pain-US; unconditioned pain stimulus) with one movement (CS+; conditioned stimulus) but not with another (CS-). However, it is expected that during acquisition through direct experience, pain-related fear can be intensified or weakened by verbally/visually transmitted information about the pain and its meaning. ⋯ The results suggest that our threat manipulation might not have worked or that it was not sensitive enough to yield group-specific effects. We replicated acquisition, extinction, and return of experimentally conditioned fear of movement-related pain, but the threat manipulation failed to generate any additional effects.
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Case Reports
CNS Measures of Pain Responses Pre- and Post-Anesthetic Ketamine in a Patient with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome.
Previous reports have indicated that ketamine anesthesia may produce significant improvement if not complete recovery of patients with complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS). ⋯ Future studies of brain function in these patients may provide novel insight into brain plasticity in response to this treatment for chronic pain.
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To determine the association of self-report use of metformin and pain intensity. ⋯ In a clinic sample of patients with diabetes, the use of metformin at an average dose of 1,432 mg (SD = 596 mg) was not associated with lower pain scores. Given the anti-nociceptive effects of metformin in the animal models of pain, and the relative safety of metformin, future research should evaluate the effect of the higher dose of metformin as a potential analgesic.