The Clinical journal of pain
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Capsaicin application to human nasal mucosa was found to induce painful sensation, sneezing, and nasal secretion. All of these factors exhibit desensitization upon repeated applications. The acute effects induced by capsaicin (300 micrograms/100 microliters) application to the nasal mucosa were studied in healthy volunteers and cluster headache patients. ⋯ Likewise, the time course of desensitization to the painful sensation and nasal secretion induced by capsaicin applied for five consecutive days in control subjects was almost superimposable to those observed in the nasal mucosa of cluster headache patients. The number of spontaneously occurring attacks was significantly reduced in the 60 days after the end of capsaicin treatment. Whether the beneficial effect induced by capsaicin application to the nasal mucosa could be ascribed to a specific action on sensory neurons remains unknown.
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Comparative Study
Sufentanil and alfentanil pattern of consumption during patient-controlled analgesia: a comparison with morphine.
Pattern of drug consumption and side effects of sufentanil and alfentanil were compared to morphine, using "on-demand" patient-controlled analgesia (PCA). After a non-narcotic general anesthetic, a bolus dose of the narcotic was given intravenously towards the end of surgery. PCA was started in the recovery room. ⋯ There was a similar incidence of nausea in all the groups. Further study is needed to determine precisely the best dose regimens for sufentanil and alfentanil, especially in reference to optimum loading doses. Sufentanil appears to be a promising drug for PCA use.
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Tyramine sulfoconjugation following an oral tyramine load was determined in 30 patients suffering from migraine and 14 controls not regularly suffering from headache. Reduced tyramine sulfoconjugation was found in those patients with a history of major depressive disorder compared with controls. When the patients with a history of major depression were removed from the analysis, no differences were found between diet-sensitive and non-diet sensitive migraine patients and controls.