Pain physician
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Randomized Controlled Trial
The Effect of ShotBlocker on Pain and Patient Satisfaction for Spinal Anesthesia: A Randomized Trial.
During spinal anesthesia, patients may experience pain and discomfort associated with dermal puncture. It may also cause involuntary movement, which often disturbs the patient's posture thus affecting the success of spinal anesthesia. Different methods have been studied to cope with needle-related pain. "ShotBlocker" is a flexible, plastic, U-shaped device, which has several blunt points. It is suggested that blunt points provide a nonnoxious physical stimulation and inhibit the transmission of injection pain. ⋯ ShotBlocker did not show any advantage on VAS scores but decreased the incidence of unintentional movement during dermal puncture.
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Long-term opioid therapy was prescribed with increasing frequency over the past decade. However, factors surrounding long-term use of opioids in older adults remains poorly understood, probably because older people are not at the center stage of the national opioid crisis. ⋯ Using a national sample of elderly Medicare beneficiaries, we observed that from 2013 to 2016 the use of new prescription opioids increased from 2013 to 2014 and peaked in 2015. The use of new long-term prescription opioids peaked in 2014 and started to decrease from 2015 and 2016. Future research needs to evaluate the impact of the changes in new and long-term prescription opioid use on population health outcomes.
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For palliative percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP) for vertebral metastases, local bone destruction progression (LBDP) commonly occurs in the previously treated vertebrae. There were no studies regarding LBDP and its risk factors in previous reports, and there was no uniform evaluation method for the distribution of bone cement in the vertebrae. ⋯ The cement dose, complete filling of cement, Saliou score, and filling rate were factors negatively related to LBDP occurring in less than 6 months. Patients with lower filling rates are maybe more likely to have early LBDP compared with those with higher filling rates.
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Persistent headaches and migraines are common in pediatrics with various treatment options. The sphenopalatine ganglion (SPG) has been identified as communicating with the parasympathetic autonomic nervous system and pain receptors. In adults, SPG block is an established treatment but there is no published literature in pediatrics. ⋯ With 100% technical success, statistically significant pain reduction, and no complications, we support SPG block in the pediatric population as a simple, efficacious, and safe treatment option for refractory headaches. It is routinely performed in less than 10 minutes and commonly negates the need for inpatient headache pain management. Given its minimal invasivity, we support the use of SPG blockade as a therapeutic treatment in refractory pediatric migraines as it reduces the need for intravenous medications, prolonged pain control, or hospital admission.
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Observational Study
Declining Utilization Patterns of Percutaneous Adhesiolysis Procedures in the Fee-For-Service (FFS) Medicare Population.
Percutaneous epidural adhesiolysis is a minimally invasive therapeutic modality used in the treatment of patients with chronic low back and lower extremity pain, often recalcitrant to other modalities including epidural injections and surgical interventions. While the initial utilization since its introduction and development of appropriate Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes increased up until 2008, but since 2009, there has been a significant decline in utilization of these procedures in the Medicare population. These procedures declined by 53.2% at an annual rate of 10.3% from 2009 to 2016. A recent update analysis on the reversal and decline of growth of utilization of interventional techniques in managing chronic pain in the Medicare population from 2009 to 2018 revealed an even further decline of adhesiolysis procedures. ⋯ This assessment in the FFS Medicare population in the United States shows an irreversible decline of utilization of percutaneous adhesiolysis procedures, which has been gradually deteriorating with a 69.2% decline from 2009 to 2018 with an annual decline of 12.3% during that same time period.