Pain medicine : the official journal of the American Academy of Pain Medicine
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Multicenter Study Clinical Trial
Radiopaque Gelified Ethanol Application in Lumbar Intervertebral Soft Disc Herniations: Croatian Multicentric Study.
Minimally invasive percutaneous spinal procedures are popular in trying to reduce spinal pain. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the safety of intervertebral disc chemonucleolysis and to report the effectiveness of a percutaneous, minimally invasive treatment for contained herniated intervertebral discs in the lumbar spine using the recently marketed radiopaque gelified ethanol. ⋯ Intradiscal application of gelified ethanol may be effective in pain reduction using the VNS and Roland-Morris low back pain and disability questionnaire. The treatment is safe and easy to handle.
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Persistent pain causes untold misery worldwide and is a leading cause of disability. Despite its astonishing prevalence, pain is undertreated, at least in part because existing therapeutics are ineffective or cause intolerable side effects. In this review, we cover new findings about the neurobiology of pain and argue that all but the most transient forms of pain needed to avoid tissue damage should be approached as a disease where a cure can be the goal of all treatment plans, even if attaining this goal is not yet always possible. ⋯ We conclude that the confluence of new basic science discoveries and development of new technologies are creating a path toward pain therapeutics that should offer significant hope of a cure for patients and practitioners alike. Classification of Evidence. Our review points to new areas of inquiry for the pain field to advance the goal of developing new therapeutics to treat chronic pain.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Evaluation of the Relative Intranasal Abuse Potential of a Hydrocodone Extended-Release Tablet Formulated with Abuse-Deterrence Technology in Nondependent, Recreational Opioid Users.
To assess the intranasal abuse potential of hydrocodone extended-release (ER) tablets developed with CIMA Abuse-Deterrence Technology compared with hydrocodone powder and hydrocodone bitartrate ER capsules (Zohydro ER, original formulation [HYD-OF]). ⋯ The statistically significant differences between hydrocodone ER vs hydrocodone powder and HYD-OF for the primary drug liking end points indicate a lower intranasal abuse potential with hydrocodone ER in healthy, nondependent, recreational opioid users.
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Although the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) has been intensively investigated in animal models of chronic pain, its role in human pain processing is less understood. ⋯ Our findings indicate that higher serum BDNF and intracortical facilitation of the primary motor cortex are associated with increased sensitivity to heat pain and high serum BDNF with reduced pain inhibition during noxious heterotopic stimulation.