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Spinal fusion surgery is a common and painful musculoskeletal surgery performed in the adolescent population. Despite the known risk for developing chronic postsurgical pain, few perioperative psychosocial interventions have been evaluated in this population, and none have been delivered remotely (via the Internet) to improve accessibility.
Learn More >Patients frequently complain of mild, transient, unpleasant skin sensations that cannot be diagnosed as common neuropathies. Dermatologists have termed these symptoms "sensitive skin syndrome." This narrative review was performed for a better knowledge by other specialists.
Learn More >Pain constitutes an essential alarm for preserving the organism's integrity. Damage to the nervous system produces a pathological condition known as neuropathic pain.
Learn More >According to the World Health Organization, half the adult population around the world suffers from headaches. Even though this condition remains in most cases innocuous, it can have a major impact on the patient's quality of life but also on public health expenditure. Moreover, most patients manage their headaches on their own, without consulting a doctor. Therefore, self-medication can eventually lead to drug overuse, and consequently the emergence of a secondary disease called medication-overuse headache (MOH). The detection and follow-up of these unconventional patients represent a major challenge. Some of the latest technology advancements seem to be tailored and fitting for this context. The goal of this study is to investigate medication overuse in French patients suffering from headaches using the chatbot Vik Migraine. Data collection and analysis were assembled from answers to a questionnaire of 28 questions divided into three parts: socio-demographic profile, drug consumption, and medical follow-up. The study showed that medication overuse was often linked to increased headache frequency. Prescription drugs like triptans and opioids, were the most overused drugs among the cohort. This suggests that healthcare professionals could play a critical role in targeting these drugs in prevention of overuse.
Learn More >Migraine is a primary neurological disorder associated with complex brain activity. Recently, mounting evidence has suggested that migraine is underpinned by aberrant dynamic brain activity characterized by linear and non-linear changes across a variety of time scales. However, the abnormal dynamic brain activity at different time scales is still unknown in patients with migraine without aura (MWoA). This study aimed to assess the altered patterns of brain activity dynamics over different time scales and the potential pathophysiological mechanisms of alterations in patients with MWoA.
Learn More >Virtual reality (VR) is a burgeoning treatment option for chronic pain. Its use has been heterogenous in the literature. This scoping review assesses the current literature for the use of VR in the treatment of chronic low back pain (CLBP). The following themes were identified by the analysis: safety and feasibility of VR, quality of life associated with VR treatment for CLBP, efficacy of VR to treat CLBP, and efficacy of VR to treat functional changes associated with CLBP. Gaps were identified after analysis of the extant literature. Although the nascent research uncovered in this scoping review found good evidence for safety and tolerability of VR, more studies of safety, acceptance, and satisfaction are recommended including focused studies of spinal pain risks specific to use of VR. Overall, the methodological quality of studies reviewed in this scoping review was poor and outcomes were limited to short-term posttreatment outcomes.
Learn More >The current study investigated the effects of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) on pain behavior in rats with trigeminal neuralgia induced by infraorbital nerve chronic constriction injury (ION-CCI), and the repair effects of BMSCs on pathological changes in trigeminal ganglion demyelination.
Learn More >Both chronic pain and sleep disorders are associated with a reduction in the quality of life. They can be both a cause and a consequence of each other, and should therefore be simultaneously treated. However, optimal treatments for chronic pain-related sleep disorders are not well established. Here, we aimed to investigate the effects of suvorexant, a novel sleep drug, and mirtazapine, a noradrenergic and specific serotonergic antidepressant, on pain-related changes in sleep parameters in a preclinical chronic pain mice model, by partial sciatic nerve ligation. We evaluated the quantity, duration, and depth of sleep by analyzing the electroencephalogram and voluntary activity by counting the number of wheel rotations to determine various symptoms of sleep disorders, including reduced total sleep time, fragmentation, low quality, and impaired activity in the daytime. Suvorexant and mirtazapine normalized the reduction in sleep time and fragmented sleep, further regaining the sleep depth at sleep onset in the chronic pain state in nerve-ligated mice. Mirtazapine also increased the percentage of rapid eye movement sleep in mice. Suvorexant decreased voluntary activity, which was prolonged after administration; however, mirtazapine did not decrease it. Although the effects of suvorexant and mirtazapine on sleep and activity are different, both suvorexant and mirtazapine could be potential therapeutic agents for chronic pain-related sleep disorders.
Learn More >Chronic pain and its underlying biological mechanisms have been studied for many decades, with a myriad of molecules, receptors and cell types known to contribute to abnormal pain sensations. Besides an obvious role for neurons, immune cells like microglia, macrophages and T cells are also important drivers of persistent pain. While neuroinflammation has therefore been widely studied in pain research, there is one cell type that appears to be rather neglected in this context: the humble fibroblast. Fibroblasts may seem unassuming but actually play a major part in regulating immune cell function and driving chronic inflammation. Here, our aim was to determine the breadth and quality of research that implicates fibroblasts in chronic pain conditions and models.
Learn More >Pain management of patients with chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CPPS) is challenging, because pain is often refractory to conventional treatments. Botulinum toxin A (BTX-A) may represent a promising therapeutic strategy for these patients. The aim of this systematic review was to investigate the role of BTX-A in CPPS treatment.
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