Presence Of Acute Pain Research Articles

Postsurgical pain intensity in children on the VAS and FLACC scale across various analgesic techniques. Mathematical prediction as a component of justification

Nowadays, in pediatric practice, the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and the Face, Legs, Activity, Cry, Consolability (FLACC) scale are effective for assessing postsurgical pain. The modern concept of pain management includes a multimodal approach, including regional analgesia techniques. The aim of the study was to present a mathematical model to assess the efficacy of regional analgesia techniques in managing postsurgical pain intensity on the VAS and FLACC scale up to the fifth day of the study and predict the behaviour of the experimental data function up to day 87 following surgery using the autoregressive probability model. Materials and Methods. 89 patients operated on the anterior abdominal wall were divided into 3 groups depending on the type of anesthesia. The assessment of pain management quality and the presence of acute pain was conducted using the VAS and FLACC scale on days 1, 2, 3, and 5 post-operatively in all children. The ‘predict’ function in РТС MathCad Prime 7.0. software was used to automate calculating predictions based on the Burg method. Results. Studying the efficiency of the proposed treatment using regional analgesia techniques versus conventional analgesia enabled the prediction of varying postsurgical pain intensities on the VAS and FLACC scale based on their mathematical models, with coefficient of determination R2=0.9876, R2= 0, 9827, R2=0.9952 for the FLACC scale and R2=0.9868, R2=0,915, R2=0.9774 for the VAS. Conclusions. The use of regional analgesia techniques in children undergoing anterior abdominal wall surgery has been confirmed to be associated with a significant reduction in postsurgical pain intensity to the fifth day of observation and predicted to remain so up to day 87

Better safe than sorry?-On the influence of learned safety on pain perception.

The experience of threat was found to result-mostly-in increased pain, however it is still unclear whether the exact opposite, namely the feeling of safety may lead to a reduction of pain. To test this hypothesis, we conducted two between-subject experiments (N = 94; N = 87), investigating whether learned safety relative to a neutral control condition can reduce pain, while threat should lead to increased pain compared to a neutral condition. Therefore, participants first underwent either threat or safety conditioning, before entering an identical test phase, where the previously conditioned threat or safety cue and a newly introduced visual cue were presented simultaneously with heat pain stimuli. Methodological changes were performed in experiment 2 to prevent safety extinction and to facilitate conditioning in the first place: We included additional verbal instructions, increased the maximum length of the ISI and raised CS-US contingency in the threat group from 50% to 75%. In addition to pain ratings and ratings of the visual cues (threat, safety, arousal, valence, and contingency), in both experiments, we collected heart rate and skin conductance. Analysis of the cue ratings during acquisition indicate successful threat and safety induction, however results of the test phase, when also heat pain was administered, demonstrate rapid safety extinction in both experiments. Results suggest rather small modulation of subjective and physiological pain responses following threat or safety cues relative to the neutral condition. However, exploratory analysis revealed reduced pain ratings in later trials of the experiment in the safety group compared to the threat group in both studies, suggesting different temporal dynamics for threat and safety learning and extinction, respectively. Perspective: The present results demonstrate the challenge to maintain safety in the presence of acute pain and suggest more research on the interaction of affective learning mechanism and pain processing.

A Network Meta-Analysis of Randomized Clinical Trials to Assess the Efficacy and Safety of Antiviral Agents for Immunocompetent Patients with Herpes Zoster-Associated Pain

BACKGROUND: The most refractory symptom of herpes zoster (HZ) is pain. Approximately 90% of people who have HZ suffer from pain. Early use of antiviral medications has been found to reduce pain across all stages of the disease. Although many antiviral agents via oral or intravenous administration were recommended by clinical practice, the best approach to prevent HZ-associated pain remains uncertain. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to compare the efficacy and adverse events of various antiviral agents used for the treatment of HZ-associated pain through a network meta-analysis. STUDY DESIGN: A systematic review and meta-analysis. SETTING: The Cochrane Register of Controlled Trials, Embase, and PubMed were searched from inception to Feb 2020. METHODS: Randomized clinical trials evaluating antiviral agents currently available for treating HZ-associated pain were included. We extracted data in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines and conducted network meta-analyses with random-effects models. The primary outcome was the presence of acute pain at the end of anti-virus treatment, and the secondary outcomes included the presence of pain at 28-30 days after the onset of the acute herpetic rash, the presence of postherpetic neuralgia (PHN), and any other adverse events. RESULTS: A total of 17 randomized control trials with 5,579 participants were included in this study. According to the results of the network meta-analysis, for the treatment of acute pain, there was no significant difference between oral acyclovir and intravenous acyclovir. Furthermore, oral famciclovir was the most effective treatment concerning both the odds ratio (OR) (superior to placebo OR = 0.25; 95% CI: 0.13~0.48) and the surface under the cumulative ranking curve (SUCRA) values of 0.84 for the treatment of acute pain among all the oral antiviral agents. For the presence of pain at 28-30 days, no significant difference was observed in efficacy between all antiviral treatments and placebo concerning the OR; however, oral valaciclovir ranked first (SUCRA values of 0.96). For the presence of NPH, oral famciclovir was determined to be the most effective (SUCRA values of 0.77) treatment with an efficacy of 0.42 (95% CI: 0.18~0.99) versus placebo. For adverse events, there was no significant difference between oral antivirals and placebo; however, intravenous acyclovir ranked last with a score of OR 4.31 (95% CI: 1.26~14.75) versus placebo. LIMITATIONS: The distribution of severity of pain was different in various studies; then, the lack of availability of individual data prevented us from analyzing the effects of the risk factors. CONCLUSIONS: For the treatment of acute pain and PHN, oral famciclovir was the most effective treatment among all the oral antiviral agents. For alleviating pain after 28-30 days, oral valaciclovir appeared to be the most effective among all antiviral agents. Additionally, all oral antiviral agents were well tolerated. Clinical Trial Registration Information: PROSPERO under the identification CRD42020212834 KEY WORDS: Herpes zoster, antiviral agents, acyclovir, famciclovir, valaciclovir, efficacy, pain, network meta-analysis Given the intrinsic nature of the secondary literature analysis in this study, the Ethics Committee of Chongqing Medical University’s Second Hospital waived the ethical approval.

Procedural sedation in dentistry with the use of dexmedetomidine: effects on clinical examples

The presence of acute pain can be the worst negative impressions of a person. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure the control of acute pain for comfort and prevention of the formation of chronic pain syndrome intraoperatively. The development of a multimodal approach to the control of acute pain allows for shorter results. The more we use antinociceptive receptors for pain control, the more comfortable our patient feels. Alpha-2-adrenergic agonists (clonidine, dexmedetomidine) became a key part of the anesthesiologist’s recruitment in the perioperative period. The very selective infusion of dexmedetomidine on alpha-2a central and peripheral receptors and alpha-2c receptors allowed the drug to be more widely absorbed during procedural sedation. The need for more drugs for procedural sedation may be taken to the maximum possible comfort for the patient, the happy doctor and the anesthesiological team, the change in drug administration and the most likely awakening. To balance and satisfy the needs of the consumer to help the most practical way to achieve the goal of combinations of drugs and analysis of useful and negative effects.
 Special notice. There are presented two cases with typical development but different in terms of surgical applications of clinical manifestations of the described effects, associated with the intake of Kvanadex (dexmedetomidine hydrochloride) during procedural sedation in outpatient dentistry.
 Conclusions. The administration of dexmedetomidine (Kvanadex) intraoperatively together with propofol during procedural sedation in outpatient dentistry allows to control the pain in the perioperative period with vicarious treatment of basic traditional drugs (acetaminophen, NSAIDs) in non-healing doses, changing the dose of propofol during the procedure, reducing the vomit reflex, allowing for a comfortable follow-up of the doctor’s commands (surgeon, implantologist, orthopedist) and more rapid transfer of the patient to the awakening ward.

Narcissism, the Experience of Pain, and Risky Decision Making.

Personality characteristics and situational factors are known to influence performance on behavioral decision making tasks; however, variability exists in the relationship between narcissism and decision making. In addition, recent research suggests that the presence of acute pain can negatively affect decisions, and even the threat of pain can also cause changes in decision making. Narcissists are known to experience social pain differently than non-narcissists, but relatively little is known about how physical pain is experienced. The present study examined the influence of both pain and narcissism on risky decision making task performance. Participants (n = 248) completed assessments of the narcissistic admiration and rivalry concept as well as vulnerable narcissism. They were asked to complete a pain recall task before administration of the Balloon Analog Risk Task (BART), Columbia Card Task (CCT), Game of Dice Task (GDT), and Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). Although individuals who recalled a socially painful experience took less risks on the IGT across trials, no effect of narcissism was seen on any of the tasks. Recalling a physically or socially painful situation did not negatively affect decision making on the BART, CCT, or GDT. Results are discussed in the context of previous research on narcissism, pain, and cognitive task performance.

Sensory Disturbances, but Not Motor Disturbances, Induced by Sensorimotor Conflicts Are Increased in the Presence of Acute Pain.

Incongruence between our motor intention and the sensory feedback of the action (sensorimotor conflict) induces abnormalities in sensory perception in various chronic pain populations, and to a lesser extent in pain-free individuals. The aim of this study was to simultaneously investigate sensory and motor disturbances evoked by sensorimotor conflicts, as well as to assess how they are influenced by the presence of acute pain. It was hypothesized that both sensory and motor disturbances would be increased in presence of pain, which would suggest that pain makes body representations less robust. Thirty healthy participants realized cyclic asymmetric movements of flexion-extension with both upper limbs in a robotized system combined to a 2D virtual environment. The virtual environment provided a visual feedback (VF) about movements that was either congruent or incongruent, while the robotized system precisely measured motor performance (characterized by bilateral amplitude asymmetry and medio-lateral drift). Changes in sensory perception were assessed with a questionnaire after each trial. The effect of pain (induced with capsaicin) was compared to three control conditions (no somatosensory stimulation, tactile distraction and proprioceptive masking). Results showed that while both sensory and motor disturbances were induced by sensorimotor conflicts, only sensory disturbances were enhanced during pain condition comparatively to the three control conditions. This increase did not statistically differ across VF conditions (congruent or incongruent). Interestingly however, the types of sensations evoked by the conflict in the presence of pain (changes in intensity of pain or discomfort, changes in temperature or impression of a missing limb) were different than those evoked by the conflict alone (loss of control, peculiarity and the perception of having an extra limb). Finally, results showed no relationship between the amount of motor and sensory disturbances evoked in a given individual. Contrary to what was hypothesized, acute pain does not appear to make people more sensitive to the conflict itself, but rather impacts on the type and amount of sensory disturbances that they experienced in response to that conflict. Moreover, the results suggest that some sensorimotor integration processes remain intact in presence of acute pain, allowing us to maintain adaptive motor behavior.

Interactive effect of acute pain and motor learning acquisition on sensorimotor integration and motor learning outcomes.

Previous work has demonstrated differential changes in early somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) when motor learning acquisition occurred in the presence of acute pain; however, the learning task was insufficiently complex to determine how these underlying neurophysiological differences impacted learning acquisition and retention. To address this limitation, we have utilized a complex motor task in conjunction with SEPs. Two groups of 12 participants (n = 24) were randomly assigned to either a capsaicin (capsaicin cream) or a control (inert lotion) group. SEP amplitudes were collected at baseline, after application, and after motor learning acquisition. Participants performed a motor acquisition task followed by a pain-free retention task within 24-48 h. After motor learning acquisition, the amplitude of the N20 SEP peak significantly increased (P < 0.05) and the N24 SEP peak significantly decreased (P < 0.001) for the control group while the N18 SEP peak significantly decreased (P < 0.01) for the capsaicin group. The N30 SEP peak was significantly increased (P < 0.001) after motor learning acquisition for both groups. The P25 SEP peak decreased significantly (P < 0.05) after the application of capsaicin cream. Both groups improved in accuracy after motor learning acquisition (P < 0.001). The capsaicin group outperformed the control group before motor learning acquisition (P < 0.05) and after motor learning acquisition (P < 0.05) and approached significance at retention (P = 0.06). Improved motor learning in the presence of capsaicin provides support for the enhancement of motor learning while in acute pain. In addition, the changes in SEP peak amplitudes suggest that early SEP changes reflect neurophysiological alterations accompanying both motor learning and mild acute pain.

Is birthing pain the trigger of postpartum depression? A commentary on “Childbirth pain and postpartum depression”

In 2007 the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) launched the campaign “Real Women, Real Pain”; 2007e2008 was declared as the “Global Year Against Pain” inWomen. By then it was recognized that 90% of women experience severe/unbearable labor pain, and that one very real consequence to labor pain was psychological: “Long-term emotional stress with potential adverse consequences on maternal mental health and family relationships” [1]. One year later Eisenach and his colleagues published their seminal data on the association between acute pain and postpartum depression [2]. Eisenach conducted a multicentre study across North America andWestern Europe, recruiting 1288 women after vaginal and cesarean delivery (CD). The reported combined incidence of acute pain 36 h after deliverywas 10.6%, and persistent pain at 8 weeks was 9.8%. Multivariable regression revealed a threefold increased risk of postpartum depression (PPD) in the presence of acute pain. Rates of persistent pain after cesarean delivery (PPCD) are subject to debate [3]. At the lower end, Eisenach et al. reports PPCD as 1.8% at 6months decreasing to 0.3% at 12months [4]. At the other end of the spectrum, 20% of PPCD is reported 2 years after CD for breech lie [5]. Other studies report rates between 6 and 18% beyond 6 months postpartum [6e8]. Although vaginal birth is one of the

Pain in patients undergoing appendectomy

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES:Pain is a subjective manifestation of unpleasant, personal and untransferable experience, produced by tissue injury involving physical and chemical body mechanisms. This study aimed at identifying the presence of acute pain in the postoperative period of appendectomy, at checking pain records, at describing postoperative complications and at comparing pain management and the adequacy of analgesia.METHODS:This is a transversal, descriptive and quantitative study. Sample was made up of 41 patients submitted to appendectomy. A semi-structured interview was carried out with information about use of analgesics, presence of postoperative pain, pain site, consequences of pain and visual analog scale. To evaluate pain management and the quality of analgesia, the Pain Management Index proposed by the World Health Organization was calculated.RESULTS:From total sample, 61% were males, mean age was 34.36±11.64 years, 70.7% were married and all patients have referred pain. In 90.2% of cases there was no pain recording in medical charts. Surgical incision was the major pain site and its primary consequence was impaired physical mobility. As to pain intensity, 22.2% of patients had moderate pain and were inadequately treated according to Pain Management Index.CONCLUSION:There has been considerable inadequacy of analgesia, pain recording in medical charts was scarce and no nursing professional has recorded pain. Surgical incision was major pain complaint site and impaired mobility was the primary complication. Our data bring about the need for investments in health professionals qualification with regard to pain management.

Douleurs chroniques après césarienne : impact et facteurs de risque associés

BackgroundChronic postoperative pain is a well-recognized problem after amputation, thoracotomy, mastectomy and inguinal hernia repair but has not been well evaluated after obstetric surgery. Study designRetrospective cohort. ObjectivesTo determine the rate of chronic pain after cesarean, their impact on quality of life of patients and risk factors associated with this complication. MethodsA questionnaire was sent to 220 consecutive patients who underwent caesarean delivery in a 6-month period. The questions focused on the duration of incisional pain after caesarean, severity and impact on daily activities. Meanwhile, a retrospective collection of clinical data (history, details of surgery and anaesthesia) was performed. After a descriptive analysis of the study population, a comparison of patients with and without DCPC was conducted to highlight potential risk factors. ResultsOne hundred and sixty-seven patients (76%) completed the survey. The average response time was 10months (range 8–12) after caesarean section. The postoperative pain was resoluted in most patients within three months but persisted in 25 patients (15%). Seven patients (4%) showed a deterioration of their quality of life because of daily moderate to severe incisional pain. Risk factors associated with chronic pain were the presence of acute pain in postoperative, pre-existing pain (headaches, back pain), a young age and the achievement of general anaesthesia without locoregional associated at caesarean section. ConclusionThe occurrence of chronic pain after cesarean section may be frequent and can be responsible for an impaired quality of life.

Immunologic Effects of Opioids in the Presence or Absence of Pain

Opioids are acknowledged to suppress immune functions following both acute and chronic administration; however, there appear to be differences according to the schedule of administration as well as the state of the organism. For example, whereas a single dose of morphine in the absence of pain is well known to be immune suppressive, the biologic consequences of this suppression are largely unknown. Repeated and chronic opioid ingestion in the absence of pain appears to result in significant consequences including high infectious disease prevalence. On the other hand, in the presence of acute pain, there is evidence that opioid administration in analgesic doses is protective. Much less is known regarding the immune and disease implications related to chronic opioid treatment for chronic pain states.

Catastrophizing predicts changes in thermal pain responses after resolution of acute dental pain

Substantial research suggests that coping strategies, especially catastrophizing, play an important role in shaping adjustment to chronic pain. Although laboratory and clinical studies both suggest that catastrophizing enhances pain, the interaction of catastrophizing and clinical pain on pain sensitivity has received little attention. The present study evaluated the extent to which catastrophizing influenced laboratory thermal pain responses during and after the resolution of acute dental pain. Thermal pain threshold and tolerance, as well as self-reported catastrophizing, were determined in 46 dental patients (15 men and 31 women) experiencing pain as a result of acute pulpitis. All subjects participated in 2 experimental sessions; the first took place immediately before endodontic treatment for relief of pulpal pain, and the second session occurred when patients were pain free, approximately 1 to 2 weeks later. Thermal pain thresholds increased on resolution of acute dental pain, whereas levels of catastrophizing did not change from pretreatment to post-treatment. Catastrophizing was unrelated to thermal pain responses in the presence of acute dental pain (ie, during the first session). Once patients were pain free, catastrophizing showed significant inverse associations with measures of thermal pain threshold and tolerance. In addition, catastrophizing was a robust predictor of changes in thermal pain responses across sessions, with higher baseline catastrophizing predicting reductions or relatively smaller increases in pain threshold and tolerance after successful treatment of acute pain. These data suggest that catastrophizing is prospectively associated with enhanced sensitivity to and reduced tolerance for thermal pain. The use of catastrophizing as a coping strategy might interfere with the resolution of sensitization after cessation of an acutely painful condition, or it might be associated with magnified experimental pain responses across time. Perspective In the presence of acute pain, catastrophizing may contribute to lasting alterations in the central nervous system that promote sensitization-like processes. The use of such methodologies as functional neuroimaging may help to elucidate the putative neurobiological underpinnings of catastrophizing and its effects.