Articles: pain.
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Review
The truth about pain management: the difference between a pain patient and an addicted patient.
Pain is undertreated in all parts of the world. Multiple barriers exist that prevent valid treatment of the pain patient. ⋯ The physiological benefits of using long- versus short-acting opioids will be presented. With proper education of the medical community, patients should receive humane and compassionate treatment of their chronic pain syndromes.
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Intramuscular codeine is the most regularly prescribed analgesia for post-surgery craniotomy patients. Morphine is avoided for this patient group because of fears of side-effects. A literature search found evidence that titrated morphine has no inherent risks if patients are well observed.
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Because most cancer pain involves multiple anatomic sites, invasive techniques are intended to be analgesic adjuvants and not serve as the definitive treatment. These procedures often allow patients to reduce their dosages in their current drug regimens or to derive greater pain relief from their present doses in order to improve their quality of life. Medical care of the suffering pain patient requires a multimodality, multispecialty approach combining psychotherapy, social support, and pain management to provide the best possible quality of life or quality of dying.
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Pain in the temporomandibular joint is often the result of internal derangement, other causes are traumatic, functional or inflammatory processes. Conventional radiography is indicated in case of suspected trauma or for specialised preoperative measurements to plan the treatment of various facial dysplasias. MRI and CT should be used in the context with the results of clinical investigation and of axiography to differentiate the various functional and morphological abnormalities of this joint.