Articles: pain-management-methods.
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To conduct a systematic review of the available literature addressing the effectiveness, safety, and role of corticosteroids for pain relief in persistent pain of inflammatory arthritis (IA), as part of the international 3e (Evidence, Expertise, Exchange) Initiative. ⋯ No data on the efficacy and safety of systemic corticosteroids in residual pain in IA could be identified from the literature.
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To systematically review the safety of various pain therapies used during pregnancy and lactation in patients with inflammatory arthritis. ⋯ Only 2 studies evaluating the risk of NSAID use in patients with inflammatory arthritis were identified, with results suggesting a higher rate of cardiac malformations in infants exposed to NSAID during the first trimester. No studies evaluating the effects of other treatments, such as paracetamol, corticosteroids, muscle relaxants, neuromodulators, antidepressants, opioids, or opioid-like therapy in the specific context of rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, or spondyloarthritis, and no studies with respect to lactation were identified. Research is needed to improve the risk-benefit ratio of the use of pain therapies for inflammatory arthritis during pregnancy.
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Pain management in the postanesthesia care unit (PACU) is continually evolving, with several new nonopioids expanding the list of available agents. Pain in the PACU is not an inevitable outcome of surgery. ⋯ Accurate assessment of the characteristics of pain will direct rational drug choices while minimizing side effects. Better management of pain in the PACU setting will likely improve patient satisfaction and facilitate shorter PACU stays.
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The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), informally referred to as ObamaCare, is a United States federal statute signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010. ACA has substantially changed the landscape of medical practice in the United States and continues to influence all sectors, in particular evolving specialties such as interventional pain management. ObamaCare has been signed into law amidst major political fallouts, has sustained a Supreme Court challenge and emerged bruised, but still very much alive. ⋯ ObamaCare may provide insurance for all, but with cuts in Medicare to fund Obamacare, a limited expansion of Medicaid, the inadequate funding of exchanges, declining employer health insurance coverage and skyrocketing disability claims, the coverage will be practically nonexistent. ObamaCare is composed of numerous organizations and bureaucracies charged with controlling the practice of medicine through the extension of regulations. Apart from cutting reimbursements and reducing access to interventional pain management, administration officials are determined to increase the role of midlevel practitioners and reduce the role of individual physicians by liberalizing the scope of practice regulations and introducing proposals to reduce medical education and training.
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An epidemic of prescription drug abuse in the United States has increased the burden on clinical toxicology testing laboratories. Urine drug testing provides objective evidence for compliance and aberrant drug behavior in patients on chronic (non-cancer) pain management. This article describes the testing menu, drug testing assays including tandem mass spectrometry and their limitations, interpretation of opiate results and clinical considerations.