Pain medicine : the official journal of the American Academy of Pain Medicine
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Effects of Combining a Brief Cognitive Intervention with Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on Pain Tolerance: A Randomized Controlled Pilot Study.
Cognitive behavioral therapy has been shown to be effective for treating chronic pain, and a growing literature shows the potential analgesic effects of minimally invasive brain stimulation. However, few studies have systematically investigated the potential benefits associated with combining approaches. The goal of this pilot laboratory study was to investigate the combination of a brief cognitive restructuring intervention and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in affecting pain tolerance. ⋯ Combining cathodal tDCS with BCI yielded the largest analgesic effect of all the conditions tested. Future research might find stronger interactive effects of combined tDCS and a cognitive intervention with larger doses of each intervention. Because this controlled laboratory pilot employed an acute pain analogue and the cognitive intervention did not authentically represent cognitive behavioral therapy per se, the implications of the findings on chronic pain management remain unclear.
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Sharp increases in opioid prescriptions, and associated increases in overdose deaths in the 2000s, evoked widespread calls to change perceptions of opioid analgesics. Medical literature discussions of opioid analgesics began emphasizing patient and public health hazards. Repetitive exposure to this information may influence physician assumptions. While highly consequential to patients with pain whose function and quality of life may benefit from opioid analgesics, current assumptions about prescription opioid analgesics, including their role in the ongoing opioid overdose epidemic, have not been scrutinized. ⋯ Many current assumptions about opioid analgesics are ill-founded. Illicit fentanyl and heroin, not opioid prescribing, now fuel the current opioid overdose epidemic. National discussion has often neglected the potentially devastating effects of uncontrolled chronic pain. Opioid analgesic prescribing and related overdoses are in decline, at great cost to patients with pain who have benefited or may benefit from, but cannot access, opioid analgesic therapy.
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Observational Study
Association of Opioid Usage with Spinal Cord Stimulation Outcomes.
Observational study using insurance claims. ⋯ Chronic pain patients receive escalating opioid dosage prior to SCS implant, and high-dose opioid usage is associated with an increased risk of explant. Neuromodulation can stabilize or decrease opioid usage. Earlier consideration of SCS before escalated opioid usage has the potential to improve outcomes in complex chronic pain.