Pain physician
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It is well documented that epidural adhesion is associated with spinal pain. However, the underlying mechanism of spinal pain generation by epidural adhesion has not yet been elucidated. ⋯ The current study clearly demonstrated that epidural adhesion causes significantly increased stress in the spinal nerves, especially at the DRG. We believe that the increased stress on the spinal nerve might elicit more pain under similar magnitudes of lumbar disc protrusion.
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The spine, pelvis, skull, and femur are the most common sites of bone metastases, and pain is the main symptom of metastatic tumors. Percutaneous femoroplasty (PFP) is becoming increasingly popular for treating proximal femoral metastases. ⋯ Use of CT-guided PFP was associated with a low risk of complications and improvement in patients' quality of life. CT guidance made the operation easy and safe, and thus, this approach represents a potential treatment option for proximal femoral metastases if indications are observed closely.
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Genicular nerve ablation with radiofrequency (RF) has recently emerged as a promising treatment in the management of osteoarthritis related knee pain. To date, genicular nerve injections have been performed under fluoroscopic guidance. ⋯ Genicular nerve pulsed RF treatment has been found to be safe and beneficial in osteoarthritis related knee pain. Further studies with a larger population and randomized controlled study design are warranted to confirm the positive findings of this preliminary report.
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Observational Study
Predictive Factors of Chronic Post-Surgical Pain at 6 Months Following Knee Replacement: Influence of Postoperative Pain Trajectory and Genetics.
The frequency of chronic postsurgical pain (CPSP) after knee replacement remains high, but might be decreased by improvements to prevention. ⋯ Our findings suggest that several preoperative and postoperative characteristics could be used to facilitate the identification of patients at high risk of CPSP after knee surgery. All therapeutic strategies decreasing APOP, such as anxiety management or performing knee replacement before the pain has a serious effect on ability to walk, may help to decrease the risk of CPSP. Further prospective studies testing specific management practices, including a training program before surgery, are required.
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Case Reports
Functional Reorganization of the Primary Somatosensory Cortex of a Phantom Limb Pain Patient.
Functional reorganization of the somatosensory system was widely observed in phantom limb pain patients. Whereas some studies demonstrated that the primary somatosensory cortex (S1) of the amputated limb was engaged with the regions around it, others showed that phantom limb pain was associated with preserved structure and functional organization in the former brain region. However, according to the law of use and disuse, the sensitivity of S1 of the amputated limb to pain-related context should be enhanced due to the adaptation to the long-lasting phantom limb pain experience. ⋯ This observation suggested the increased sensitivity of S1 of the amputated limb to the pain-related context. In addition, such increase of sensitivity was significantly larger if the context was associated with the amputated limb of the patient. In summary, our findings provided novel evidence for a possible neuroplasticity of S1 of the amputated limb: in an amputee with long-lasting phantom limb pain, the sensitivity of S1 to pain-related and amputated-limb-related context was greatly enhanced.