Articles: pain-management-methods.
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Regular assessment for the presence of pain and response to pain management strategies should be high priority in cancer patients. Pain is a multidimensional experience in cancer patients. Pain management will be most effective when treatments are individualized after exploring the various physical and non-physical components of pain, and the patient and family are educated and involved in decision making. This article discusses the various issues that are pertinent to the assessment of pain in cancer patients.
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This article provides a concise review of post-thoracotomy pain-relief strategies, focuses on surgical factors that have been investigated to reduce post-thoracotomy pain, and explores the effectiveness of various treatments for this condition. Although some interventions (both procedural and pharmacologic) have been investigated in both preventing and treating post-thoracotomy pain syndrome, definitive studies are lacking and firm conclusions cannot be drawn. This review elucidates mechanisms and some surgical techniques which can relieve post-thoracotomy pain.
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Curr Pain Headache Rep · Aug 2012
ReviewIntegrative oncology: managing cancer pain with complementary and alternative therapies.
For the projected 1,638,910 patients with a diagnosis of cancer this year, the great majority of them (75-90 %) will experience cancer-related pain. A growing number of these patients will turn to complementary and alternative therapies to assist with the management of their pain and other cancer-related symptoms. ⋯ Practitioners and researchers must be aware of the evidence that exists to support or refute the use of these therapies. In this manuscript we review evidence from the recent past on complementary and alternative therapies for pain with emphasis on more common modalities including acupuncture, bio-energy, massage, and music.
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Prolonged use of opioids is a possibility for chronic pain treatment. Opioids are effective for virtually all chronic noncancer pain syndromes, but may cause dependence. The aim of this paper is to review the use and rotation of opioids in chronic non-oncologic pain. ⋯ Opioids are drugs with proven efficacy for chronic non-oncologic pain, but its prescription should meet certain criteria in order to reduce the incidence of adverse effects and addiction.
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Pain relief after laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) is an issue of great practical importance. Pain after LC has several origins: incisional, local visceral, peritoneal, and referred. Several modalities have been employed for achieving effective and safe analgesia: nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitors, gabapentinoids, local anesthetics, and transversus abdominis plane (TAP) block. ⋯ Factors enhancing the effectiveness of these agents include early instillation before creating the pneumoperitoneum, larger volume of medium used for instillation, and favorable pharmacological characteristics of the agent. Combination of LA with either NSAID/COX-2 inhibitors or fibrin sealant appears to be effective, although more research is required for determining the exact combinations and efficacy using direct comparisons with single-modality interventions. Finally, newer procedures such as TAP block appear promising if replicated.