Pain physician
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Double needle technique: an alternative method for performing difficult sacroiliac joint injections.
The sacroiliac joint (SIJ) is a common source of low back pain. The most appropriate method of confirming SIJ pain is to inject local anesthesia into the joint to find out if the pain decreases. Unfortunately, although the SIJ is a large joint, it can be difficult to enter due to the complex nature of the joint and variations in anatomy. ⋯ Once both needles are in place contrast dye is injected through the needle that is most likely to be in the SIJ. If the contrast dye spread is not satisfactory then it is injected through the other needle. I have used this technique in 10 patients and found it very helpful in accurately performing SIJ injection which can at times be challenging.
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Case Reports
The use of lumbar sympathetic blockade at L4 for management of malignancy-related bladder spasms.
Cancer-related bladder spasms may be a rare but severe symptom of bladder or metastatic cancer or its related treatments. Various treatments described in the literature include systemic medications, intravesical or epidural medications, or even sacral neurolectomies. ⋯ Lumbar sympathetic blockade could be a useful treatment for recurrent bladder spasm in the oncologic population. Based on these findings, we feel that the branches of the sympathetic nerve set at L4 may be a good target for neurolytic procedures, such as radiofrequency ablation, for long term treatment of bladder spasms. Further research is necessary to determine the efficacy of this technique for the treatment of bladder spasms in the oncologic population.
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Review Comparative Study
The impact of comparative effectiveness research on interventional pain management: evolution from Medicare Modernization Act to Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute.
The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) was established by the Affordable Care Act of 2010 to promote comparative effectiveness research (CER) to assist patients, clinicians, purchasers, and policy-makers in making informed health decisions by advancing the quality and relevance of evidence concerning the manner in which diseases, disorders, and other health conditions can effectively and appropriately be prevented, diagnosed, treated, monitored, and managed through research and evidence synthesis. The development of PCORI is vested in the Medicare Modernization Act (MMA) and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The framework of CER and PCORI describes multiple elements which are vested in all 3 regulations including stakeholder involvement, public participation, and open transparent decision-making process. ⋯ Further, stakeholders in PCORI are not scientists, are not balanced, and will set an agenda with an ultimate problem of comparative effectiveness and PCORI that it is not based on medical science, but rather on political science and not even under congressional authority, leading to unprecedented negative changes to health care. Thus, PCORI is operating in an ad hoc manner that is incompatible with the principles of evidence-based practice. This manuscript describes the framework of PCORI, and the role of CER and its impact on interventional pain management.
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Multicenter Study Clinical Trial
Improving the safety of transforaminal epidural steroid injections in the treatment of cervical radiculopathy.
Unplanned vascular trespass occurs in 20% of cervical transforaminal epidural steroid injections (CTFESI) and rarely results in devastating neurologic complications. The Trucath Spinal Injection System is a novel integrated catheter and needle device that is specifically designed to minimize vascular trespass risk. ⋯ The Trucath Spinal Injection System demonstrated a statistically significant reduction in the rate of intravenous and intra-arterial trespass, procedural pain, and paresthesia, and has similar accuracy and performance versus standard spinal needles for CTFESI treatment of cervical radiculopathy.
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Intrathecal drug infusion therapy is usually considered when spinal-acting analgesics or antispasmodics administered via the oral or transdermal routes fail to control patients' pain or are associated with unacceptable side effects. The intrathecal administration of centrally acting agents bypasses the blood-brain-barrier resulting in much higher cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) concentrations while using reduced amounts of medication to achieve equipotent doses. The intrathecal approach is associated with higher rates of satisfactory pain relief and lower rates of treatment failures and technical complications compared to the epidural route. A paucity of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) has led to concern regarding proper use, selection criteria, and safety of these devices. Cost effectiveness and comparative therapies have now also become a focus of discussion. ⋯ Based on the available evidence, the recommendation for intrathecal infusion systems for cancer-related pain is moderate recommendation based on the high quality of evidence and the recommendation is limited to moderate based on the moderate quality of evidence from non-randomized studies for non-cancer related pain.