Pain practice : the official journal of World Institute of Pain
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Pain is one of the most common symptoms in patients with cancer. The aim of this review is to summarize the most recent literature regarding tapentadol use in oncology patients and moderate or severe pain. ⋯ Tapentadol is seemingly an effective, well-tolerated alternative for moderate or severe cancer pain. Most prospective cohort studies have relatively small samples, are restricted to few research centers, and lack detailed subgroup information. More experience is required to draw valid generalizable conclusions.
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Review
Postoperative Pain Control Following Craniotomy: A Systematic Review of Recent Clinical Literature.
Pain intensity after craniotomy is considered to be moderate to severe during the first 2 postoperative days. The ideal pain treatment to facilitate a rapid postoperative recovery and optimize outcome is unknown. ⋯ No definite recommendations can be made based on this systematic review of pharamacological interventions following craniotomy due to significant divergence in the methodology of available studies. Limited evidence on scalp infiltration/block suggests an adequate analgesic effect in the early postoperative period. Analgesic efficacy of dexmedetomidine and multipoint electro-acupuncture needs further evaluation.
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Percutaneous neurostimulation of the peripheral nervous system involves the insertion of a wire "lead" through an introducing needle to target a nerve/plexus or a motor point within a muscle. Electrical current may then be passed from an external generator through the skin via the lead for various therapeutic goals, including providing analgesia. With extended use of percutaneous leads sometimes greater than a month, infection is a concern. It was hypothesized that the infection rate of leads with a coiled design is lower than for leads with a noncoiled cylindrical design. ⋯ Percutaneous leads used for neurostimulation of the peripheral nervous system have a much lower risk of infection with a coiled design compared with noncoiled leads: approximately 1 infection for every 30,000 vs. 1,200 indwelling days, respectively.
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Dexmedetomidine is an upcoming agent with sedative, anxiolytic, and analgesic properties. This review summarizes empirical evidence for the efficacy of dexmedetomidine as a sole sedative agent, and its effectiveness for small diagnostic and therapeutic procedure, in comparison with other frequently used sedatives. All randomized controlled trials on the effect of dexmedetomidine were reviewed. ⋯ In the adult studies, dexmedetomidine yielded significantly lower pain levels compared to the other sedatives (in 31.25% of the included studies) and significantly more patient satisfaction (68.2%). In studies on children, more favorable results concerning respiratory safety and the level of adequate sedation were found compared to the control sedatives. Implications for future studies are discussed.
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Tapentadol prolonged release (PR) for the treatment of moderate to severe chronic pain combines 2 modes of action. These are μ-opioid receptor agonism and noradrenaline reuptake inhibition in a single molecule that allow higher analgesic potency through modulation of different pharmacological targets within the pain transmitting systems. At the same time, this can also serve as a clue for modulation of different pain-generating mechanisms according to nociceptive, neuropathic, or mixed pain conditions. ⋯ The gastrointestinal tolerability profile was more favorable compared to other tested WHO III opioids. Tapentadol PR has a good safety profile and no evidence of acquired tolerance from the long-term data so far collected. Overall, tapentadol PR represents an effective and generally well-tolerated alternative to "classical" opioidergic drugs.