Pain physician
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Adjuvant hyaluronidase to epidural steroid improves the quality of analgesia in failed back surgery syndrome: a prospective randomized clinical trial.
Management of low back pain after spinal surgeries is one of the most challenging problems in pain medicine. Transforaminal lumbar epidural steroid injection has been used with inconsistent response. Most patients require multiple and frequent injections due to high recurrence of back pain. ⋯ We conclude that adding hyaluronidase to the epidural injectate was effective in the management of chronic low back pain in patients with failed back surgery syndrome demonstrated over a period of 4 weeks.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
A randomized, double-blind, active-control trial of the effectiveness of lumbar interlaminar epidural injections in disc herniation.
Among the multiple nonsurgical modalities, epidural injections are one of the most commonly utilized treatment modalities in managing chronic low back and lower extremity pain due to disc herniation and radiculitis. There is a paucity of randomized trials from contemporary interventional pain management settings utilizing fluoroscopy with long-term follow-up. ⋯ Lumbar interlaminar epidural injections of local anesthetic with or without steroids is an effective modality, in patients with chronic function limiting low back and lower extremity pain secondary to disc herniation after failure of conservative modalities.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Is Life better after motor cortex stimulation for pain control? Results at long-term and their prediction by preoperative rTMS.
A positive effect of motor cortex stimulation (MCS) (defined as subjective estimations of pain relief ≥ 30%) has been reported in 55 - 64% of patients. Repetitive magnetic cortical stimulation (rTMS) is considered a predictor of MCS effect. These figures are, however, mostly based on subjective reports of pain intensity, and have not been confirmed in the long-term. ⋯ Half of the patients still retain a significant benefit after 2 - 9 years of continuous MCS, and this can be reasonably predicted by preoperative rTMS. Adding drug intake and QoL estimates to raw pain scores allows a more realistic assessment of long-term benefits and enhance the rTMS predictive value. The aims of this study and its design were approved by the local ethics committee (University Hospitals St Etienne and Lyon, France).