Pain practice : the official journal of World Institute of Pain
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
A double-blind, randomized, prospective study of epidural steroid injection vs. the mild® procedure in patients with symptomatic lumbar spinal stenosis.
Epidural steroid injections (ESIs) are commonly used to treat low back pain, including symptomatic lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS). Reports on LSS treatment with ESIs have not differentiated between neurogenic claudication, which is believed to result from nerve root compression, and lumbar radicular pain, thought to be caused by inflammation. While there is overlap between these groups, the clinical relevance of ESI treatment cannot be generalized between these 2 distinct diseases with completely different pathophysiological causes. ⋯ This study demonstrated that in LSS patients suffering with neurogenic claudication, mild provides statistically significantly better pain reduction and improved functional mobility vs. treatment with ESI.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Intravenous acetaminophen for pain after major orthopedic surgery: an expanded analysis.
From the time that Sinatra et al. (Anesthesiology. 2005;102:822) was published to FDA apaproval of intravenous (IV) acetaminophen, an expanded analysis of the original raw study data became necessary for the regulatory submission. The following analyses were conducted: (1) sum of pain intensity differences over 24 hours (SPID24) using currently accepted imputation methods to account for both missing data and the effects of rescue; (2) efficacy results after the first 6 hours; (3) effects of gender, race/ethnicity, age, weight, surgical site, ASA Class, and serotonin antagonists; and (4) a stepwise regression analysis of why adverse events of nausea and vomiting were numerically (although not statistically) higher in the IV acetaminophen group compared with placebo. ⋯ Repeated-dose 24-hours end points were found to be as robust as previously published results. IV acetaminophen efficacy and safety appeared to be unaffected by specific subset variables.▪