Pain practice : the official journal of World Institute of Pain
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Pain is one of the most devastating symptoms for cancer patients. One third of patients who experience pain do not receive effective treatment. A key barrier to effective pain management is lack of routine measurement and monitoring of pain. Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) are recommended for measuring cancer pain. However, evidence to guide the selection of the most appropriate measure to identify and monitor cancer pain is limited. A systematic review of measurement properties of PROMs for pain in cancer patients is needed to identify the best validated measure for adoption to an electronic platform. ⋯ The BPI-SF was the best performing measure across all properties evaluated through COSMIN. Better quality validation studies of PROMs for cancer pain are needed to explore the full range of measurement properties. Utilizing mHealth applications to measure pain in cancer patients is an innovative approach worthy of further investigation.
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Radiofrequency Thermocoagulation of the Ganglion Impar for Coccydynia Management: Long-Term Effects.
To investigate the short- and long-term effects of ganglion impar radiofrequency thermocoagulation (RFT) treatment in patients with chronic coccydynia. ⋯ Our data suggested that RFT of the ganglion impar in patients with chronic coccydynia resulted in effective outcomes, and patients who responded to RFT had significantly lower post-RFT pain scores.
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Among the elderly population, chronic osteoarthritis of the knee joint is one of the leading causes of disability and causes considerable pain, joint stiffness, and functional limitations. Although knee replacement is a good option for advanced osteoarthritis, many patients could not undergo surgery due to comorbidities or other reasons. ⋯ Ultrasound-guided alcohol neurolysis is a good alternative for patients having severe pain from knee osteoarthritis and provides significant pain relief for more than 6 months.