Rejected

Symptomatic lumbar spinal stenosis is a condition affecting a growing number of individuals resulting in significant disability and pain, leading to a multitude of interventions ranging from simple over the counter medication to opioids, and, finally, to complex surgical fusions. After failure of conservative treatment with drug therapy, physical therapy, and other conservative modalities including epidural injections, percutaneous adhesiolysis with targeted delivery of drugs into the epidural space can be offered in lumbar central spinal stenosis prior to minimally invasive surgical options or complex surgical fusions. To date there has been only one systematic review which has assessed the role of percutaneous adhesiolysis in treating central spinal stenosis, compared to post lumbar surgery syndrome which has multiple systematic reviews and randomized controlled trials (RCTs).

Prescribed opioid misuse in North America is a public health crisis, with huge social, medical and economic repercussions. Surgery is an identified driver for persistent opioid use and misuse. The UK has also seen a surge in opioid consumption per capita and it is now necessary for primary and secondary care to work together to mitigate the problem of perioperative prescribed opioid misuse.This review discusses the identified drivers for persistent opioid use following surgery and discusses the remedial actions that must be taken by all stakeholders to mitigate the UK developing its own perioperative prescribed opioid crisis.

To describe a case of stromal rejection in a 46-year-old man after small incision lenticule extraction (SMILE) for the correction of residual astigmatism following deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty (DALK).

Clear cell sarcoma of the kidney (CCSK) is the second most common renal tumor in children following Wilms' tumor. CCSK is extremely rare in adults, with only 25 adult cases reported in the medical literature.

An association between migraine and sleep disturbances in children was reported, yet limited clinical data exist. The current study addresses the clinical presentation, polysomnographic (PSG) characteristics, and comorbid sleep diagnoses of children with migraine referred to the sleep clinic.

Osteoid osteoma (OO) is a small tumor of bone that affects the spine in 10% of the cases. The tumor has a tendency to neural arc, and the lumbar spine is the most common site of presentation. Lesions of the odontoid process are very rare. We presented the case of a 20-year-old man who had cervical pain for 8 months. The pain responded to medical therapy. After investigation, there was a lytic lesion at the odontoid process with the characteristic features of OO in computed tomography scan and magnetic resonance imaging. Firstly, medical treatment was initiated with the administration of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs; however, due to adverse effects and worsening of his pain, the patient underwent surgical treatment with intralesional curettage from the transoral approach. In addition, the posterior fusion of the first and second cervical vertebrae was performed. The pain disappeared, and the patient was symptom-free after one year of follow-up.

The incidence rates of heart failure (HF) and chronic pain increase with age. In the geriatric population, both disorders often coexist and pose a challenge to clinicians in treating them simultaneously. We conducted an online literature search for reports of the heart failure effects of pharmacological treatments for chronic pain. Topical pain medications are favored agents because of their efficacy, tolerability, and favorable side-effect profile. Acetaminophen is a preferred oral medication for the treatment of pain in patients with HF. Due to deleterious effects including HF, the long-term use of oral nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and gabapentinoids are discouraged. Prescribers should thoroughly consider the risk-benefit ratio and individual patient-risk profile before instituting pharmacological treatment for chronic pain in patients with HF.

Chronic low back pain (cLBP) affects a quarter of a population during its lifetime. The most severe cases include patients not responding to interventions such as 5-week-long in-hospital multi-disciplinary protocols. This document reports on a pilot study offering an alpha-phase synchronization (APS) brain rehabilitation intervention to a population of n = 16 multi-resistant cLBP patients.

Opioid refractory pain is a common problem in pain management. Dexmedetomidine is suggested to have opioid-sparing effects, with well-described use in surgical and intensive care unit settings. Some authors advocate its benefit in reducing delirium. Its effects are thought to be exhibited through agonism of pre- and postsynpatic α-receptors in the central nervous system. It is more selective on α-receptors than clonidine, accounting for its relatively lower incidence of hypotension. Its use in sedation is favored because it does not depress the respiratory system. The main side effects reported include bradycardia. Twenty-eight-year-old woman with triple negative left breast cancer and a locally destructive tumor was admitted to hospice after exhausting her disease-directed therapy options. Her chief complaint was a throbbing, burning pain to the left chest wall, lower back, and bilateral lower extremities, rated 8/10 on a 10-point verbal scale. Multiple pharmacologic agents for pain, including patient-controlled analgesia infusions with adjuvant methadone and steroids, had failed to provide consistent pain management. Symptoms were difficult to control in the home setting, and she required multiple admissions to our inpatient hospice unit for pain management. She also developed episodes of delirium shortly after hospice admission. We attributed her symptoms to rapid disease progression. After failed pain control with opioids, ketamine, and lidocaine, we trialed a dexmedetomidine infusion. While on the infusion, her pain rating decreased to 0/10 and she had no delirium. Pain recurred soon after cessation of the infusion, initially rated 6/10. Dexmedetomidine is safe for opioid refractory pain in the hospice inpatient setting. However, its effects may not be sustained. There is potential for use in end-of-life care, with added benefit for possible control of delirium.

Among patients with positive nystagmus during positional testing, definite BPPV accounts for only 65.4%. The main finding in this clinical study comparing patients with definite BPPV and patients with non-definite BPPV is that positional vertigo attacks in patients with non-definite BPPV can be distinguished from those in patients with definite BPPV on the basis of spontaneous nystagmus, posthead-shaking nystagmus, nystagmus intensity and patterns, duration, and associated headache. Over one-third of non-definite BPPV patients showed intricate multiple positional nystagmus, in which only a portion of the positional nystagmuses were consistent with BPPV. None of these patients experienced complete resolution either in terms of symptoms or nystagmus, while half of these patients had partial symptom resolution in which positional nystagmus of the suspected affected canal disappeared and nystagmus in the other positions remained unchanged. There is a possibility that vestibular migraine might present nystagmus that exhibits characteristics in accordance with otoconia in certain positions, or these patients may concurrently experience both vestibular migraine and BPPV.