Rejected

Advances in medical technology have resulted in an increased life expectancy in pediatric patients with congenital heart diseases. Assessment of health-related quality of life is crucial to improving their healthcare status. We aimed to assess post-surgical pain prevalence and its impact on health-related quality of life in pediatric patients who underwent cardiac surgery during childhood.

Effective and adequate post-operative analgesia for cesarean section is in demand due to increasing rates of cesarean deliveries, and may help promote recovery, ambulation and breastfeeding. Local nerve block has been applied as post-operative analgesia for maternal patients receiving cesarean section; specifically, lateral abdominal transversus abdominis plane block (TAPB) and iliohypogastric/ilioinguinal nerve block (IHINB) under ultrasound guidance have been proven to be effective. The present study aimed to compare the analgesic effect of TAPB and IHINB in maternal females undergoing cesarean section. Propensity-matched females who received cesarean section (n=124) were retrospectively enrolled and divided into the TAPB group (n=62) and the IHINB group (n=62) according to their post-operative analgesia treatment. All of the patients have been given spinal-epidural anesthesia during the operation, while they received either TAPB or IHINB for post-operative analgesia. Demographic and clinical data were collected and compared, including time to first morphine request, cumulative morphine consumption, visual analogue scale (VAS) score and adverse events. Due to propensity matching, there was no significant difference between the two groups in their baseline characteristics (all P>0.05). The log-rank test indicated no significant difference in the Kaplan-Meier curves for the time to first morphine request between the two groups (P=0.575). The VAS score and cumulative morphine consumption at 6 and 12 h was similar between the two groups (all P>0.05). However, these two parameters were significantly lower in the IHINB group at 24 and 48 h (P<0.001). Uni- and multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that the method of block was not an independent influencing factor regarding postoperative pain relief (P=0.628). There was also no difference between the two groups in adverse events of analgesia (all P>0.05). In conclusion, the present study demonstrated that TAPB and IHINB achieved a comparably satisfactory analgesic effect after cesarean section. However, the analgesic effect of IHINB was better than that of TAPB at the later stages.

Acupuncture and dry needling are increasingly popular treatment modalities used to treat pain around the world. This case report documents the clinical history of a patient who presented to an outpatient physical therapy clinic following surgical removal of two single-use filament needles that fractured in the patient's neck during acupuncture treatment.

Patients suffering from complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) endure myofascial-related pain in at least 50% of cases.

Patients who present with clinical symptoms and signs of periprosthetic ankle infection (pain, erythema, warmth, sinus tract, abscess around the wound) and sinus tracts communicating with the ankle/subtalar joint are likely to have total ankle arthroplasty (TAA) infection. In the absence of a sinus tract, elevated inflammatory markers (erythrocyte sedimentation rate [ESR] and C-reactive protein [CRP]) should prompt ankle joint aspiration for cell count, differential, and culture. The joint aspiration is to be repeated. If the same organism is identified in at least 2 cultures of synovial fluid, the patient is diagnosed to have an infection. If the repeat aspiration is negative, further investigation is warranted. In patients not requiring operative intervention for other reasons, nuclear imaging should be considered for diagnosis. If an operation is indicated, histologic examination (>5 neutrophils/high-power field) or synovial fluid analysis is conducted to confirm infection.

To compare the safety and efficacy of xylocaine gel and ketorolac as opioid-sparing analgesia compared with pethidine for shock wave lithotripsy (SWL) pain.

To investigate whether clinical tests used to detect motor control dysfunction can predict improvements in pain and disability in patients with chronic nonspecific LBP who have undergone an 8-week lumbar stabilization exercise program.

Assessment of home exercise adherence and the degree to which adherence influences changes in patient outcomes is limited by the use of self-reported measures.