Rejected

This retrospective study compared the outcomes after open and arthroscopic treatment of chronic medial epicondylitis (ME).

Patients with lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) may experience neuropathic symptoms, such as back pain, radiating pain, and neurogenic claudication. Although the long-term outcomes of both nonsurgical and surgical treatments are similar, surgery may provide shortterm benefits, including improved symptoms and lower risk of falling. Decompression is mainly used for surgical treatment, and depending on the decompression degree and associated instability, combination therapy may be given. Minimally invasive surgery has been demonstrated to produce excellent results in the treatment of LSS. Thus, an approach aimed at understanding the overall pathophysiology and treatment methods of LSS is expected to have a better therapeutic effect.

(1) Background: Hemarthrosis is a typical clinical manifestation in patients with hemophilia. Its recurrence causes hemophilic arthropathy, characterized by chronic joint pain. Watching movement recorded from a first-person perspective and immersively can be effective in the management of chronic pain. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an immersive virtual reality intervention in improving the pain intensity, joint condition, muscle strength and range of motion in patients with hemophilic knee arthropathy. (2) Methods: Thirteen patients with hemophilic knee arthropathy were recruited. The patients wore virtual reality glasses and watched a flexion-extension movement of the knee on an immersive 180° video, recorded from a first-person perspective over a 28-day period. The primary variable was the pain intensity (visual analog scale). The secondary variables were the joint status (Hemophilia Joint Health Score), quadriceps and hamstring strength (dynamometry), and range of motion (goniometry). (3) Results: After the intervention period, statistically significant differences were observed in the intensity of the joint pain (Standard error [SE] = 19.31; 95% interval confidence [95%CI] = -1.05; -0.26), joint condition (SE = 18.68; 95%CI = -1.16; -0.52) and quadriceps strength (SE = 35.00; 95%CI = 2.53; 17.47). We found that 38.46% and 23.07% of the patients exhibited an improvement in their quadriceps muscle strength and joint condition above the minimum detectable change for both variables (8.21% and 1.79%, respectively). (4) Conclusions: One hundred and eighty degree immersive VR motion visualization can improve the intensity of joint pain in patients with hemophilic knee arthropathy. An intervention using immersive virtual reality can be an effective complementary approach to improve the joint condition and quadriceps strength in these patients.

Emergence Delirium (ED) is an essential condition in the immediate postoperative period. Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials have concluded that the effect of ketamine on postoperative delirium remains unclear. The present study sought to evaluate if the intraoperative use of ketamine for postoperative analgesia is associated with postoperative ED in laparoscopic surgeries.

Mid-portion Achilles tendinopathy (mid-AT) is currently the preferred term for persistent Achilles tendon pain, defined as located 2-7 cm proximal to the calcaneus, and with loss of function related to mechanical loading. Histologically, mid-AT is considered to represent a degenerative condition. Therefore, monitoring of tendon structure additional to pain and function may be warranted, to prevent progression of degeneration or even tendon rupture. The aim of this study was to determine the association between pain and function, relative to the Achilles tendon structure, in soldiers treated with a conservative programme for mid-AT.

Anal fissures cause severe pain and can be difficult to treat. Medical therapy is initially used, followed by sigmoidoscopy-guided botox injections if the medical therapy is not successful. With this technique, however, it is not clear whether botox is injected into the muscle layer or submucosa.

Opioids are among the most effective analgesics for the management of pain in the acute phase of a spinal cord injury (SCI), and approximately 80% of patients are treated with morphine in the first 24 h following SCI. We have found that morphine treatment in the first 7 days after SCI increases symptoms of pain at 42 days post-injury and undermines the recovery of locomotor function in a rodent model. Prior research has implicated microglia/macrophages in opioid-induced hyperalgesia and the development of neuropathic pain. We hypothesized that glial activation may also underlie the development of morphine-induced pain and cell death after SCI. Supporting this hypothesis, our previous studies found that intrathecal and intravenous morphine increase the number of activated microglia and macrophages present at the spinal lesion site, and that the adverse effects of intrathecal morphine can be blocked with intrathecal minocycline. Recognizing that the cellular expression of opioid receptors, and the intracellular signaling pathways engaged, can change with repeated administration of opioids, the current study tested whether minocycline was also protective with repeated intravenous morphine administration, more closely simulating clinical treatment. Using a rat model of SCI, we co-administered intravenous morphine and intrathecal minocycline for the first 7 days post injury and monitored sensory and locomotor recovery. Contrary to our hypothesis and previous findings with intrathecal morphine, we found that minocycline did not prevent the negative effects of morphine. Surprisingly, we also found that intrathecal minocycline alone is detrimental for locomotor recovery after SCI. Using ex vivo cell cultures, we investigated how minocycline and morphine altered microglia/macrophage function. Commensurate with published studies, we found that minocycline blocked the effects of morphine on the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines but, like morphine, it increased glial phagocytosis. While phagocytosis is critical for the removal of cellular and extracellular debris at the spinal injury site, increased phagocytosis after injury has been linked to the clearance of stressed but viable neurons and protracted inflammation. In sum, our data suggest that both morphine and minocycline alter the acute immune response, and reduce locomotor recovery after SCI.

To compare local anesthetic wound infiltration with intraperitoneal instillation of local anesthetic for analgesia after cesarean section under spinal anesthesia.

No objective criteria exist for diagnosis and treatment of visual-vestibular mismatch (VVM).

Acetaminophen is routinely used for perioperative analgesia in children undergoing major surgical procedures. There are few estimates of acetaminophen pharmacokinetic parameters in children with congenital heart disease, especially those with cyanotic heart disease.