Rejected

Diagnosis and management of musculoskeletal pain is a major clinical challenge. Following this need, the first aim of our study was to provide an innovative magnetic resonance technique called T to quantify possible alterations in elbow pain, a common musculoskeletal pain syndrome that has not a clear etiology. Five patients were recruited presenting chronic elbow pain (>3 months), with an age between 30 and 70 years old. Patients underwent two T-mapping evaluations, one before and one after the series of Fascial Manipulation (FM) treatments. After the first MRI evaluation, a Disability of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH) questionnaire was administered to quantify the symptoms and pain intensity. Patients then received three sessions of FM, once a week for 40 min each. A statistically significant difference was found between bound and unbound water concentration before and after FM treatment. Our preliminary data suggest that the application of the manual method seems to decrease the concentration of unbound water inside the deep fascia in the most chronic patients. This could explain the change in viscosity perceived by many practitioners as well as the decrease of symptoms due to the restoration of the normal property of the loose connective tissue. Being able to identify an altered deep fascial area may better guide therapies, contributing to a more nuanced view of the mechanisms of pain.

Severe inflammation, progressive cartilage, and bone destruction are typical pathologic changes in temporomandibular joint (TMJ) arthritis and lead to great difficulty for treatment. However, current therapy is inefficient to improve degenerative changes in progressive TMJ arthritis. This study investigated the therapeutic effects of human dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) on severe inflammatory TMJ diseases. Progressive TMJ arthritis in rats was induced by intra-articular injection of complete Freund's adjuvant and monosodium iodoacetate. DPSCs were injected into the articular cavity to treat rat TMJ arthritis, with normal saline injection as control. Measurement of head withdrawal threshold, micro-computed tomography scanning, and histologic staining were applied to evaluate the severity of TMJ arthritis. Results showed that local injection of DPSCs in rats with TMJ arthritis relieved hyperalgesia and synovial inflammation, attenuated cartilage matrix degradation, and induced bone regeneration. Inflammatory factors TNF-α and IFN-γ were elevated in progressive TMJ arthritis and partially decreased by local injection of DPSCs. MMP3 and MMP13 were elevated in the arthritis + normal saline group and decreased in the arthritis + DPSCs group, which indicated amelioration of matrix degradation. The isolated primary synoviocytes were cocultured with DPSCs after inflammatory factors stimulated to explore the possible biological mechanisms. The expression of MMP3 and MMP13 in synoviocytes was elevated after TNF-α and IFN-γ stimulation and partially reversed by DPSC treatment in the in vitro study. The signal transducer and activator of transcription 1 (STAT1) was activated by inflammatory stimulation and suppressed by DPSC coculture. The upregulation of MMP3 and MMP13 triggered by inflammation was blocked by STAT1-specific inhibitor, suggesting that STAT1 regulated the expression of MMP3 and MMP13. In conclusion, this study demonstrated the possible therapeutic effects of local injection of DPSCs on progressive TMJ arthritis by inhibiting the expression of MMP3 and MMP13 through the STAT1 pathway.

Occipital nerve block (ONB) is an effective procedure for treating occipital headache pain. However, traditional sub-occipital approaches to ONB remain underutilized in the acute and chronic settings. An alternative location for ONB is the superior nuchal line, where anatomic studies show a reliable relationship between occipital artery and greater occipital nerve. This study evaluated the efficacy and validity of an alternative, single skin insertion, paresthesia-based approach to block both the greater and lesser occipital nerve.

This study aimed to evaluate care gaps in risk- and harm-reduction strategies for patients prescribed opioids and to describe the implementation of a community pharmacy-based, pilot pain-management program.

To calculate the monthly incidence of opioid-related adverse events in the opioid-naïve patients who contin-ue to use opioids in the post-operative period.

Spontaneous intracranial hypotension caused by cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak is a rarely encountered cause of persistent postural headaches in the absence of trauma or dural puncture. It presents with postural headache and is characterized by radiological findings of spinal CSF leak. The mainstay of management is an epidural patch with the patient's own blood (epidural blood patch [EBP]) and/or a fibrin glue product. We report here a case of spontaneous intracranial hemorrhage presenting with persistent headaches and bilateral subdural hematomas secondary to CSF leaks at multiple levels along the spinal cord, which was successfully managed with a single lumbar EBP.

Priapism refers to prolonged erection unrelated to sexual stimulation, with severe sequelae unless treated. In humans, it is a rare complication associated with epidural or spinal opioid administration. Its pathophysiology is unclear. This is the first report of priapism following neuraxial anesthesia in dog.

A 43-year-old male using valproic acid (VA) for 2 years for seizure disorder presented with right-sided moderate pleural effusion. Pleural fluid analysis revealed exudative effusion with 42% eosinophils. There was no evidence of haemothorax, pneumothorax, malignancy, and parasitic infections. Suspecting a drug-related event, VA was discontinued. The patient showed clinical improvement with resolution of pleural effusion on chest radiograph three weeks later. VA is a popular drug used for variety of disorders like seizures, migraines, and schizophrenia. There is a paucity of literature on VA-induced pleural effusion. Though a rare phenomenon, clinicians should be aware of such a possibility to avoid erroneous diagnosis.

It is recognized that multimodal management of chronic pain is necessary. This management requires the use of both drug and non-drug approaches. Acupuncture is a non-medicinal approach that has been shown to be effective in treating chronic musculoskeletal and arthritic pain. It has few side effects and contraindications. Its use should be developed in geriatrics as a complement to usual analgesics and other non-drug approaches.