Pain medicine : the official journal of the American Academy of Pain Medicine
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Pain Treatments for Nursing Home Residents with Advanced Dementia and Substantial Impaired Communication: A Cross-Sectional Analysis at Baseline of a Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial.
This is a cross-sectional analysis at baseline of a cluster randomized controlled trial to identify factors associated with the use of pharmacological and nonpharmacological pain treatments by nursing home residents with dementia and impaired communication. ⋯ Suboptimal pain management was common among this population. Severe impairment in the ability to communicate is a major reason for the underuse of pain medications. Staff may become desensitized and fail to perceive subtle changes in the residents' behavior as indicative of pain, leading to the underadministering of nonpharmacological treatments. To improve this situation, it is suggested that observational pain assessments be systematically carried out in nursing homes.
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Each year, more than 150,000 patients with rib fractures are admitted to US trauma centers; as many as 10% die. Effective pain control is critical to survival. One way to manage pain is thoracic epidural analgesia. If this treatment reduces mortality, more frequent use may be indicated. ⋯ Thoracic epidural analgesia associates with reduced mortality in rib fracture patients. Better care of this population is likely to be facilitated by more frequent reliance on this treatment.
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Comparative Study Observational Study
Conventional (Simplicity III) and Cooled (SInergy) Radiofrequency for Sacroiliac Joint Denervation: One-Year Retrospective Study Comparing Two Devices.
To compare two radiofrequency (RF) devices, Simplicity III (conventional RF), and SInergy (cooled RF), which are specifically designed to denervate the sacroiliac joint (SIJ). ⋯ The study results suggest that SInergy safely afforded patients with greater and more durable analgesia and disability relief than Simplicity III for SIJ-derived pain. The Simplicity III procedure may be more conducive than SInergy for bilateral procedures and for patients who have limited tolerance to be in an RF procedure-required prone position. Randomized controlled trials are needed to confirm the implication made in this study that SInergy is the preferred RF denervation option for treating SIJ-derived pain and the disability associated with it.
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The goals of the present study were (a) to assess the psychological treatment needs and treatment delivery preferences in people attending services or contacting a hospital website for chronic pain in Singapore, and (b) to explore potential relevance of the psychological flexibility (PF) model for this group by investigating associations between PF and pain-related outcomes. ⋯ A focus on meeting patients' needs at low cost, and providing proof of treatment success may increase psychological treatment uptake. Increasing PF for pain in people from Singapore may also contribute to better patient functioning.
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Cigarette smoking and musculoskeletal pain are prevalent among Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care system users. These conditions frequently co-occur; however, there is limited empirical information specific to Afghanistan/Iraq era veterans. The present study sought to examine gender differences in the association between cigarette smoking and moderate to severe musculoskeletal pain in US veterans with Afghanistan/Iraq era service. ⋯ Survey data from Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom veterans suggest an association between current smoking, gender, and moderate to severe musculoskeletal pain. The stronger relationship between smoking and pain in women supports the need for interventional and longitudinal research that can inform gender-based risk factors for pain in veteran cigarette smokers.