Subjective Pain Scores Research Articles

Pain Cognition of the Injury Experienced Athletes Depends on Emotional Status

PURPOSE: This study aimed to verify whether the degree of pain cognition by injury-experienced athletes in a sports setting varies depending on their emotional status, and to compare the values between the VAS (subjective pain score) and RIII reflex (objective pain data).METHODS: Injured (n=15) and non-injured (n=15) experienced athletes participated in the experimental procedures with pain stimulation, RIII reflex, and VAS measurement, while emotional images (neutral, pleasure, and unpleasure) were randomly presented. The RIII reflex was measured simultaneously with TENS stimulation of the sural nerve while the OASIS images were presented, and the VAS was measured between the sets of images. Data were collected using electromyography (EMG) and VAS.RESULTS: The relationship between the group and the VAS score according to the emotional state was significant (<i>p</i>=.028), and the relationship between the group and the RIII reflex depending on the emotional state was not significant (<i>p</i>=.344). Furthermore, the relationship of the group “emotion” measurement was not significant (<i>p</i>=.081), but the results indicate toward a correlation.CONCLUSIONS: Athletes recognized more pain at the same intensity when their emotional state was unpleasant, but the RIII reflex was measured constantly so they could recognize less pain in an emotionally stable state. Despite some associations, no difference was observed in the degree of pain recognition based on injury experience.

Acromial and Scapular Spine Fractures following Reverse Total Shoulder Arthroplasty—A Systematic Review of Fixation Constructs and Techniques

Fractures of the acromion and the scapular spine are established complications of reverse shoulder arthroplasty (RSA), and when they occur, the continuous strain by the deltoid along the bony fragments makes healing difficult. Evidence on treatment specific outcomes is poor, making the definition of a gold standard fixation technique difficult. The purpose of this systematic review is to assess whether any particular fixation construct offers improved clinical and/or radiographic outcomes. A systematic review of the literature on fixation of acromial and scapular spine fractures following RSA was carried out based on the guidelines of PRISMA. The search was conducted on PubMed, Embase, OVID Medline, and CENTRAL databases with strict inclusion and exclusion criteria applied. Methodological quality assessment of each included study was done using the modified Coleman methodology score to asses MQOE. Selection of the studies, data extraction and methodological quality assessment was carried out by two of the authors independently. Only clinical studies reporting on fixation of the aforementioned fractures were considered. Fixation construct, fracture union and time to union, shoulder function and complications were investigated. Nine studies reported on fixation strategies for acromial and scapular spine fractures and were therefore included. The 18 reported results related to fractures in 17 patients; 1 was classified as a Levy Type I fracture, 10 as a Levy Type II fracture and the remaining 7 fractures were defined as Levy Type III. The most frequent fixation construct in type II scapular spine fractures was a single plate (used in 6 of the 10 cases), whereas dual platin was the most used fixation for Levy Type III fractures (5 out of 7). Radiographic union was reported in 15 out of 18 fractures, whereas 1 patient (6.7%) had a confirmed non-union of a Levy Type III scapular spine fracture, requiring revision fixation. There were 5 complications reported, with 2 patients undergoing removal of metal and 1 patient undergoing revision fixation. The Subjective Shoulder Value and Visual Analogue Scale pain score averaged 75% and 2.6 points, respectively. The absolute Constant Score and the ASES score averaged 48.2 and 78.3 points, respectively. With the available data, it is not possible to define a gold standard surgical fixation but it seems that even when fracture union can be achieved, functional outcomes are moderate and there is an increased complication rate. Future studies are required to establish a gold standard fixation technique.

Impact of Active Physiotherapy Rehabilitation on Pain and Global and Functional Improvement 1–2 Months after Lumbar Disk Surgery: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Introduction: Lumbar disc surgery is a common procedure for patients with lower back pain associated with lumbar disc herniation. This study aims to evaluate the impact of active physiotherapeutic rehabilitation on global/functional improvement and subjective pain score reduction among patients 1–2 months following lumbar disc surgery. The outcomes of this study are to assess the impact of active physiotherapeutic rehabilitation on functional improvement and subjective improvement in pain behavior post active rehabilitation. The outcomes are measured as pain assessed using the visual analog scale, global measurement of improvement, back pain functional status, and return to work. Methods: Databases, including MEDLINE/PubMed (10 June 1996, 2022), Web of Science (10 June 1997, 2022), Scopus (15 March, 10 June 2004, 2022), CINAHL Plus (10 June 1961, 2022), and Cochrane (10 June 1993, 2022) were reviewed without any language restrictions. All studies were systematically screened; however, only randomized controlled trials were eligible against the inclusion/exclusion criteria. All statistical tests were conducted in Review Manager (RevMan) 5.4. The quality of studies was appraised using the grading of recommendations assessment, development, and evaluation (GRADE) approach and the risk-of-bias 2 (RoB 2) tool. Results: Fifteen articles were identified, enrolling a total of 2188 patients, where the majority of active rehabilitation interventions continued for 3 months. All these interventions began 1–2 months postoperatively, and quantitative findings were presented as mean scores. The subjective pain scores were significantly lower in the interventional group, with a mean difference (MD) of −7.01 (p = 0.004). The pain disability score was considerably lower in the interventional group, with an MD of −3.94 (p = 0.002). Global improvement was higher in the interventional group (OR = 1.94, p = 0.0001). Conclusions: This study presents significant improvement in all parameters concerning pain and functionality. Postoperative rehabilitation requires optimization concerning timing, duration, intensity, and associated components to benefit patients post lumbar disc surgery.

Evaluating the Efficacy of Employing Local Anesthetic Prostatic Blocks During Rezum Procedure.

Introduction Rezum is a minimally invasive, outpatient procedure using convective water vapor to relieve outlet obstruction from benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Evidence on the technical approach of Rezum therapy, particularly pain control, is lacking. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of utilizing a local anesthetic prostate block for postoperative pain control during Rezum therapy for BPH. A multimodal approach is typically utilized for pain control during and after Rezum. However, little is known about which elements are most critical. Methods This is a single-center retrospective study of 109 patients who underwent Rezum for BPH. Patients were then divided into two groups: Local anesthetic prostatic block verse no local anesthetic prostatic block for the procedure. A phone survey was performed to assess the patients' subjective pain scores and postoperative analgesics usage. A comparison of reported pain scores on a 0-10 Likert scale as well as usage of prescription and non-prescription analgesics medications was performed. Results There were 109 patients who underwent Rezum therapy, and 86 (79%) of patients responded to phone surveys. There was no significant difference in postoperative pain scores between patients who received local anesthetic prostatic block vs those who did not (2.10 vs 3.03). Similarly, there were no significant differences in postoperative narcotics or non-prescription analgesic medications usage. Conclusion Our data suggest that when performing Rezum using conscious sedation in the operating room or cystoscopy suite, it is unnecessary to perform a local anesthetic prostate block as it has no significant effect on patient-reported pain or the use of analgesics in the postoperative period.

Serial Platelet-Rich Plasma Intra-articular Injections in Kellgren and Lawrence Grade IV Knee Joint Osteoarthritis: A Prospective Blinded Placebo-Controlled Interventional Study.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether serial intra-articular (IA) Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) injections improve pain and function in patients of Kellgren-Lawrence (K-L) Grade IV primary knee osteoarthritis (KOA), not willing for arthroplasty or having relative contraindications to surgery. 90 patients (84 available at final follow-up) of Grade IV KOA were given 3 PRP or NormalSaline injections at 1-month interval. Pain and functional assessment was done with Visual analog scale (VAS) and Western Ontario and McMaster universities osteoarthritis index (WOMAC) respectively, at baseline and then at three and six months of follow-up. Both groups were homogenous with similar baseline characteristics. Both groups showed statistically significant improvements in the outcome scores but only PRP showed minimal clinically important difference (25% in WOMAC and > 2cm difference of mean in VAS at follow-up). For inter-group comparison, PRP showed better results as there was statistically significant difference in WOMAC at 3months (Difference = - 9.220, 95% CI = - 13.1945 to - 5.2455, P < 0.0001) and at 6months (Difference = - 10.360, 95% CI = - 14.5358 to - 6.1842, P < 0.0001). Similar results were seen for VAS also (Difference = - 0.580, 95% CI = - 1.1412 to - 0.0188, P = 0.04 at 3months, Difference = - 0.870, 95% CI - 1.3993 to - 0.3407, P = 0.001 at 6months). Outcome scores significantly correlated with age and sex but not with body mass index (BMI). Serial Intra-articular Injections of autologous PRP mildly improve short-term subjective pain and knee function scores in patients of Grade IV KOA without any major complications.

Closed-Loop Adaptive Neurostimulation Technologies in Cognitive Rehabilitation of High-Tech Specialists.

The study involved specialists who applied to the clinic with complaints of occupational pain syndromes and work stress. For the treatment of pain syndromes, analgesic electrical nerve stimulation was used with the parameters automatically modulated by feedback signals from the subject's breathing rhythm. To correct stress-induced states, musical stimulation was used, automatically modulated by feedback signals from the narrow-band rhythmic components of the electroencephalogram (EEG) of the subject - alpha EEG oscillators. Treatment procedures without feedback from rhythmic processes were used as а control. In the control sessions without the feedback from human rhythmic processes, no significant effects of stimulation were noted. With electrical stimulation controlled by the patient's breathing (experiment 1), the most significant changes were observed in subjective pain scores, which dropped by half. A significant increase was noted in the power of the EEG alpha rhythm, respiration amplitude, and subjective ratings of well-being and mood. With music stimulation automatically modulated by the rhythmic components of the patient's EEG (experiment 2), there was a significant increase in the power of the EEG alpha rhythm, as well as a decrease in the level of emotional disadaptation and stress. The data obtained clearly indicate that the developed and tested technologies of adaptive neurostimulation can be used for the timely correction of the functional state and cognitive rehabilitation of high-tech specialists by effectively eliminating the risks of their functional reliability caused by occupational pain and stress.

New chest compression method in infant resuscitation: Cross thumb technique

BackgroundThe two-thumb encircling technique (2TT) is superior to the two-finger technique (2FT) in infant cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), but there are difficulties in providing ventilation as soon as possible. We modified the 2TT to the cross-thumb technique (CTT) to maintain good CPR performance at the same position as 2FT. We aimed to compare the quality of chest compression and brief hands-off times in 2FT, 2TT, and CTT by a single rescuer using an infant CPR manikin model.MethodsThis study was designed as a prospective randomized controlled simulation-based study. We used the Resusci® Baby QCPR (Laerdal Medical, Stavanger, Norway) as a simulated 3-month-old infant. Ventilation was performed by the mouth-to-mouth technique using a chest compression-to-ventilation ratio of 30:2 as a single rescuer. Data on CPR quality, such as locations, rates, depth and release of chest compressions, hands-off times, and proper ventilation, were recorded using the Resusci® Baby QCPR and SkillReporter. Also, the chest compression fraction (CCF) was automatically calculated.ResultsThe depth of chest compression in 2FT, 2TT, and CTT were 40.0 mm (interquartile range [IQR] 39.0, 41.0), 42.0 mm (IQR 41.0, 43.0), and 42.0 mm (IQR 41.0, 43.0), respectively. The depth of chest compression in 2FT was shallower than that in the other two techniques (P<0.05). CCF in 2FT, 2TT, and CTT were 73.9% (IQR 72.2, 75.6), 71.2% (IQR 67.2, 72.2) and 71.3% (IQR 67.7, 74.1), respectively. CCF was higher in 2FT than in the other two techniques (P<0.05). Correct location in 2FT, 2TT, and CTT were 99.0% (IQR 86.0, 100.0), 100.0% (IQR 97.0, 100.0) and 100.0% (IQR 99.0, 100.0), respectively. Correct location in CTT and 2TT was higher than that in 2FT. Performing CTT, the subjective pain and fatigue score were lower than other two technique.ConclusionA new chest compression technique, CTT was better in chest compression depth compared with 2FT and may be helpful in maintaining correct chest compression location with less pain and fatigue in infant CPR.

The Use of Alloderm® Coverage to Reinforce Tissues in Two-Stage Tissue Expansion Placement in the Subcutaneous (Prepectoral) Plane: A Prospective Pilot Study.

Purpose: Two-stage tissue expander (TE) to implant breast reconstruction is commonly performed by plastic surgeons. Prepectoral implant placement with acellular dermal matrix (ADM, e.g., AlloDerm®) reinforcement is evidenced by minimal postoperative pain. However, the same is not known for TE-based reconstruction. We performed this study to explore the use of complete AlloDerm® reinforcement of breast pocket tissues in women undergoing unilateral or bilateral mastectomies followed by immediate, two-stage tissue expansion in the prepectoral plane.Methods: Patients (n = 20) aged 18-75 years were followed prospectively from their preoperative consult to 60 days post-TE insertion. The pain visual analog scale (VAS), Patient Pain Assessment Questionnaire, Subjective Pain Survey, Brief Pain Inventory-Short Form (BPI-SF), postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) survey, BREAST-Q Reconstruction Module, and short-form 36 (SF-36) questionnaires were administered. Demographic, intraoperative, and 30- and 60-day complications data were abstracted from medical records. After TE-to-implant exchange, patients were followed until 60 days postoperatively to assess for complications.Results: Pain VAS and BPI-SF pain interference scores returned to preoperative values by 30 days post-TE insertion. Static and moving pain scores from the Patient Pain Assessment Questionnaire returned to preoperative baseline values by day 60. The mean subjective pain score was 3.0 (0.5 standard deviation) with seven patients scoring outside the standard deviation; none of these seven patients had a history of anxiety or depression. Median PONV scores remained at 0 from postoperative day 0 to day 7. Patient-reported opioid use dropped from 89.5% to 10.5% by postoperative day 30. BREAST-Q: Sexual well-being scores significantly increased from preoperative baseline to day 60 post-TE insertion. Changes in SF-36 physical functioning, physician limitations, emotional well-being, social functioning, and pain scores were significantly different from preoperative baseline to day 60 post-TE insertion. Five participants had complications within 60 days post-TE insertion. One participant experienced a complication within 60 days after TE-to-implant exchange.Conclusions: We describe pain scores, opioid usage, patient-reported outcomes data, and complication profiles of 20 consecutive patients undergoing mastectomy followed by immediate, two-stage tissue expansion in the prepectoral plane. We hope this study serves as a baseline for future research.

Arthroscopic bone graft and fixation for proximal scaphoid nonunions.

This study aims to report the outcomes in the treatment of unstable proximal third scaphoid nonunions with arthroscopic curettage, non-vascularized bone grafting, and percutaneous fixation. This was a retrospective analysis of 20 patients. All cases were delayed presentations (n = 15) or failed nonoperatively managed scaphoid fractures (n = 5). Surgery was performed at a mean duration of 27 months (7 to 120) following injury with arthroscopic debridement and arthroscopic iliac crest autograft. Fracture fixation was performed percutaneously with Kirschner (K)-wires in 12 wrists, a headless screw in six, and a combination of a headless screw and single K-wire in two. Clinical outcomes were assessed using grip strength, patient-reported outcome measures, and wrist range of motion (ROM) measurements. Intraoperatively, established avascular necrosis of the proximal fragment was identified in ten scaphoids. All fractures united within 16 weeks, confirmed by CT. At a mean follow-up of 31 months (12 to 64), there were significant improvements in the Patient-Rated Wrist Evaluation, Mayo Wrist Score, abbreviated Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand score, wrist ROM, grip strength, and the patients' subjective pain score. No peri- or postoperative complications were encountered. Our data indicate that arthroscopic bone grafting and fixation with cancellous autograft is a viable method in the treatment of proximal third scaphoid nonunions, regardless of the vascularity of the proximal fragment. Cite this article: Bone Joint J2022;104-B(8):946-952.

Correlation between Clinical Pain in Temporomandibular Disorders and Signal Intensity of the Retrodiscal Tissue Using Fluid Attenuation Inversion Recovery MRI – A Cross Sectional Study

Temporomandibular disorders (TMD) is a broad term referring to pain and dysfunction of temporomandibular joint (TMJ), nmasticatory muscles and its associated structures. TMD is the most common orofacial pain condition with prominent feature like regional pain in the face and preauricular area during static and dynamic movements. Methods of assessing clinical pain were subjective and not affirmative. There still remains element of drafting the clinical pain evaluation in TMD patients. This study correlated the pain range in TMD patients with the levels of signal intensity (SI) in FLAIR MRI (Fluid Attenuation Inversion Recovery magnetic resonance imaging) to devise an objective pain assessing system based on the SI values. Settings and design: The present study is institution based, observational cross sectional study. A 32 temporomandibular joints were evaluated in the study. Before imaging, subjective pain score were recorded using Visual Analog Scale (VAS). In FLAIR MRI, both grey matter and retro discal tissue were included in the Region of Interest and the SIRs were calculated. SIRs in painful temporomandibular joints were correlated with Visual Analog Scale score. Unpaired t test was used to compare the mean values recorded for SIR. P-value &lt;0.05 is considered to be statistically significant. Study results shows that SIRs of retrodiscal tissue were significantly increased in patient with higher VAS score (p&lt;0.05). Retrodiscal tissue in painful proteinous elements. Keywords: Temporomandibular disorders, Signal intensity, FLAIR MRI, Retrodiscal tissue

Palliative Efficacy of Intrastromal Amniotic Membrane Procedure in Symptomatic Bullous Keratopathy Patients.

Objectives:To evaluate the palliative efficacy of the intrastromal human amniotic membrane (hAM) surgery technique in patients with symptomatic bullous keratopathy and limited visual potential.Materials and Methods:The study was carried out retrospectively by reviewing the medical data of 10 patients with poor visual prognosis who underwent intrastromal hAM surgery due to bullous keratopathy-related severe pain. Visual acuity, surgical indication, epithelization time, preoperative and postoperative pain scores, as well as anterior segment optical coherence tomography images and anterior segment photographs were obtained from the medical records.Results:Ten patients (6 females/4 males) were included in the study. Nine patients underwent surgery for pseudophakic bullous keratopathy and glaucoma, and 1 patient due to graft failure and glaucoma. The mean time for corneal epithelization was 27.10±13.05 days (range, 10-50), while the mean follow-up time was 37.5±1.6 months (range, 36-39.2). Subjective pain score improved in all patients after surgery. Suture-induced keratitis occurred during follow-up in one patient and was controlled with medical treatment.Conclusion:Intrastromal amniotic membrane surgery may be an alternative to keratoplasty for pain palliation in patients with limited visual prognosis after corneal transplantation when donor tissue is scarce. With this method, hAM remains on the ocular surface longer, and superficial stromal excision is believed to provide a more regular ocular surface and extend the asymptomatic period.

Improving Pain Assessment Using Vital Signs and Pain Medication for Patients With Sickle Cell Disease: Retrospective Study.

BackgroundSickle cell disease (SCD) is the most common inherited blood disorder affecting millions of people worldwide. Most patients with SCD experience repeated, unpredictable episodes of severe pain. These pain episodes are the leading cause of emergency department visits among patients with SCD and may last for several weeks. Arguably, the most challenging aspect of treating pain episodes in SCD is assessing and interpreting a patient’s pain intensity level.ObjectiveThis study aims to learn deep feature representations of subjective pain trajectories using objective physiological signals collected from electronic health records.MethodsThis study used electronic health record data collected from 496 Duke University Medical Center participants over 5 consecutive years. Each record contained measures for 6 vital signs and the patient’s self-reported pain score, with an ordinal range from 0 (no pain) to 10 (severe and unbearable pain). We also extracted 3 features related to medication: medication type, medication status (given or applied, or missed or removed or due), and total medication dosage (mg/mL). We used variational autoencoders for representation learning and designed machine learning classification algorithms to build pain prediction models. We evaluated our results using an accuracy and confusion matrix and visualized the qualitative data representations.ResultsWe designed a classification model using raw data and deep representational learning to predict subjective pain scores with average accuracies of 82.8%, 70.6%, 49.3%, and 47.4% for 2-point, 4-point, 6-point, and 11-point pain ratings, respectively. We observed that random forest classification models trained on deep represented features outperformed models trained on unrepresented data for all pain rating scales. We observed that at varying Likert scales, our models performed better when provided with medication data along with vital signs data. We visualized the data representations to understand the underlying latent representations, indicating neighboring representations for similar pain scores with a higher resolution of pain ratings.ConclusionsOur results demonstrate that medication information (the type of medication, total medication dosage, and whether the medication was given or missed) can significantly improve subjective pain prediction modeling compared with modeling with only vital signs. This study shows promise in data-driven estimated pain scores that will help clinicians with additional information about the patient’s condition, in addition to the patient’s self-reported pain scores.

This Month in Adult Urology

This Month in Adult Urology

Prosthetic temporomandibular joint replacement (TJR): Stock or custom? A single institution pilot comparison

The aim of this study was to compare stock (Biomet-Lorenz Stock, Parsippany, NJ) and custom (TMJ Concepts, Inc., Ventura, CA) total temporomandibular joint (TMJ) replacement prosthetics. This was a retrospective cohort study of 17 consecutive patients operated by the same surgeon from 2015 to 2020 comparing stock and custom options for total joint replacement (TJR). The inclusion criteria were patients who documented 1 year of follow-up post-TJR without previous TMJ replacement surgery. The predictor variable was the TMJ prosthetic replacement. The primary clinical outcome variables was pain via Visual Analog Scale (VAS) measured at 1, 3, and 6 months postoperatively and maximum incisal opening measured pre and post-surgery. The other variables were grouped into the following categories: surgery time, length of stay, and unilateral vs bilateral replacements. Our review showed no statistically significant difference in maximum incisal opening, subjective pain score, hospital stay, surgical time, or complication rate between Biomet-Lorenz stock and TMJ Concepts, Inc. custom total joint replacement. Bilateral TJR, irrespective of prosthesis type, did have greater improvement in maximal incisal opening (MIO) compared with unilateral that was statistically significant (P < .05). There was no statistically significant difference in the pain VAS or MIO using either stock or custom TJR. Both should be considered good surgical options for improvements in patient function and long-term jaw stability.

Acute pain management in the trauma patient population: are we doing enough? A prospective observational study.

There is a strong correlation between trauma and pain. Pain increases the rate of depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, and even mortality in trauma patients. This institution-based, provider-blinded and patient-blinded, observational study was conducted among trauma patients treated at kur Anbessa Specialized Hospital. Over the course of 3 months, this study included patients who had no prior pain management at other hospitals before presentation, and who presented within 24 hours of the traumatic event. Of the 74 patients evaluated, none of the patients had their pain level scored. The researcher-provided pain scale showed a severe subjective pain score for 79.7% of the patients and a severe functional activity score for 59.5% of the patients. Analgesia was provided at an average of 55.4 minutes after presentation and all patients received either diclofenac or tramadol. Satisfactory pain reduction after analgesia was 28.8% for patients initially complaining of severe pain, 54.6% for moderate pain, and 66.7% for mild pain, with the difference being statistically significant (P<0.05). Forty percent of patients discharged home received no analgesia after the first dose provided upon presentation. Pain scoring was nonexistent during the course of the study. The poor utilization rate of analgesia combination and opioids led to unsatisfactory pain outcomes in patients evaluated and followed for 24 hours after presentation.

Causal mechanisms of a scapular stabilization intervention for patients with subacromial pain syndrome: a secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial

BackgroundCausal mediation analysis is one way to bridge this gap by exploring the causal pathways of a given intervention. The aim of this study was to assess whether scapular motion, position, and periscapular muscle strength are mediators for pain and shoulder disability outcomes following a scapular stabilization intervention for patients with subacromial pain syndrome.MethodsSixty patients were randomized into two groups: scapular stabilization or periscapular strengthening exercises. The intervention consisted of three sessions per week for 8 weeks. The primary outcome measures were pain and disability and the following outcome measures were considered as potential mediators: scapular motion, scapular position, periscapular muscle strength, age, duration of symptoms, and side of the complaint. A model-based inference approach with bootstrap simulations was used to estimate the average causal mediation effect, average direct effect, and the average total effect from the data of a randomized clinical trial that evaluated the effect of adding scapular stabilization exercises to a scapulothoracic strengthening program in people with subacromial pain syndrome.ResultsThe results demonstrated that none of the putative mediators were influenced by the intervention. However, muscle strength of serratus anterior, upper, middle, and lower trapezius muscles was associated with shoulder disability.ConclusionScapular kinematic and periscapular muscle strength did not mediate the effect of scapular stabilization exercises on shoulder pain or disability scores in subjects with subacromial pain syndrome. Muscle strength of serratus anterior, upper, middle and lower trapezius were associated with shoulder disability scores at 8-weeks follow-up.

A preliminary, observational study using whole-blood RNA sequencing reveals differential expression of inflammatory and bone markers post-implantation of percutaneous osseointegrated prostheses.

AimsWhile the benefits of direct skeletal attachment of artificial limbs are well recognized, device failure due to infection and insufficient osseointegration remain obstacles to obtaining consistently successful outcomes. Currently, the potential for device failure is assessed by subjective pain, clinical function scores, radiographic evidence of bone atrophy, and the presence of radiolucent lines at the bone-implant interface, and subjective pain and function scores. Our hypothesis is that measurable biological indices might add another objective means to assess trends toward bone and stomal healing. This longitudinal cohort study was undertaken to identify potential serological biomarkers suggestive of bone remodeling and the presence of stomal tissue inflammation.MethodsTen unilateral transfemoral amputee veterans, who were implanted with a percutaneous osseointegrated (OI) skeletal limb docking system, were recruited to participate in this IRB-approved study. Venous blood samples were obtained from before the Stage 1 Surgery up to 1 year following the Stage 2 Surgery. Whole-blood RNA was extracted, sequenced, mapped, and analyzed. Of the significant differentially expressed (DEGs) genes (p<0.05) identified, four genes of interest (IL12B, IL33, COL2A1, and SOST) were validated using qPCR. Enrichment analysis was performed to identify significant (p<0.01) Gene Ontology (GO) terms.ResultsMost differentially expressed genes were only detected at PoS1 immediately after the first surgery. Of the significant genes identified, IL12B and IL33 were related to inflammation, and COL2A1 and SOST were associated with bone remodeling. These four genes were identified with greater than 20 log fold-change.ConclusionWhole-blood RNA-seq data from 10 patients who previously underwent percutaneous osseointegrated lower limb implantation revealed four genes of interest that are known to be involved in inflammation or bone remodeling. If verified in future studies, these genes may serve as markers for predicting optimal bone remodeling and stomal tissue healing following OI device implantation.

Nonopioid perioperative analgesia in head and neck cancer surgery: A systematic review.

ObjectiveManagement of postoperative pain after head and neck cancer surgery is a complex issue, requiring a careful balance of analgesic properties and side effects. The objective of this review is to discuss the efficacy and safety of multimodal analgesia (MMA) for these patients.MethodsPubmed, Cochrane, Embase, Scopus, and clinicaltrials.gov were systematically searched for all comparative studies of patients receiving MMA (nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), acetaminophen, anticonvulsants, local anesthetics, and corticosteroids) for head and neck cancer surgeries. The primary outcome was additional postoperative opioid usage, and secondary outcomes included subjective pain scores, complications, adverse effects, and 30‐day outcomes.ResultsA total of five studies representing 592 patients (MMA, n = 275; non‐MMA, n = 317) met inclusion criteria. The most commonly used agents were gabapentin, NSAIDs, and acetaminophen (n = 221), NSAIDs (n = 221), followed by corticosteroids (n = 35), dextromethorphan (n = 40), and local nerve block (n = 19). Four studies described a significant decrease in overall postoperative narcotic usage with two studies reporting a significant decrease in hospital time. Subjective pain scores widely varied with two studies reporting reduced pain at postoperative day 3. There were no differences in surgical outcomes, medical complications, adverse effects, or 30‐day mortality and readmission rates.ConclusionMMA is an increasingly popular strategy that may reduce dependence on opioids for the treatment of postoperative pain. A variety of regimens and protocols are available for providers to utilize in the appropriate head and neck cancer patient.

Effectiveness of Pudendal Nerve Blocks on Postoperative Pain Control and Reduction in Opioid Usage after Gender-affirming Vaginoplasty

ABSTRACT Introduction Postoperative pain control in gender-affirming penile-inversion vaginoplasty (PIV) significantly affects patient experience and satisfaction. With the rise of opioid misuse and over-prescription, non-narcotic adjuncts for post-surgical analgesia are greatly needed. Currently, there is limited data on postoperative pain control after genital gender-affirming surgery (gGAS). Objective To evaluate the effects of preoperative pudendal nerve block on post-op patient-reported pain scores and opioid usage. Methods We retrospectively reviewed all trans-female patients undergoing PIV (+ creation of vaginal canal) at a single institution from August 2017 to July 2021. We recorded patient demographics, operative details, surgical-site pain (using a Likert scale 0-10; 0=no pain, 10=severe pain), and analgesic medication usage. Baseline demographics, pain scores and opioid usage were compared between patients who received pudendal nerve block preoperatively (immediately before the surgical procedure) and those who did not. Independent sample t-tests were used for all comparisons. Results Out of 36 consecutive patients (mean age 36.6 years, mean BMI 25.3 kg/m2) that underwent PIV, 25/36 patients did not have pre-op pudendal nerve block, while the most recent 11/36 patients did. Patient characteristics across cohorts were similar, though the 11 patients who had pudendal nerve block had higher rates of depression (54.5% vs. 28.0%, p=0.043) and hypertension (18.2% vs. 4.0%, p=0.041). Surgical-site pain scores on postop day 0 (POD0) were compared: patients who received pudendal nerve block had 35% lower pain scores than those who did not (3.09 vs. 4.74, p&amp;lt;0.001). Surgical-site pain scores on POD5 were 10% lower in those who received pudendal nerve block (4.16 vs. 4.63, p=0.046). Although patients experienced lower subjective pain scores, average total opioid usage was similar between patients who received pudendal block (MME= 224) versus those that did not (MME= 225). Conclusions Our preliminary data suggests that pudendal nerve blocks are safe and effective adjuncts to improve pain control after gender-affirming PIV, thus improving patients’ postoperative experience. This modality should be further investigated and considered for routine usage in vaginoplasty, and other gGAS perioperative pain regimens. Similar opioid usage despite improved pain scores suggests that in-hospital opioid pain regimens should be more closely tailored to patient-reported pain scores. Disclosure No

217 Can Virtual Reality Enhance the Patient Experience During Awake Invasive Procedures? a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomised Controlled Trials

Abstract Aim Procedural anxiety and pain negatively impacts surgical outcomes and contributes towards patient non-attendance for awake, invasive procedures (AIPs). Providing patients with virtual reality (VR) headsets may optimise their intraprocedural experience. This meta-analysis assesses the effect of VR on subjective pain, anxiety and satisfaction scores, and patient requirements for sedative and analgesic medication during AIPs. Method This review was performed according to PRISMA guidelines. PubMed, EMBASE, CENTRAL, and medrxiv databases were systematically searched for randomised controlled trials investigating the use of VR to enhance the patient experience in adults during AIPs. Meta-analyses were conducted for patient-reported anxiety (n=7), pain (n=7) and satisfaction (n=3) scores, and for total doses of sedative (n=3) and analgesic (n=3) medication administered to patients. Results 9 studies were included. Patients underwent endoscopic diagnostic procedures (n=5), minimally invasive surgery (n=2) or orthoplastic operations (n=2), under local (n=4) or regional anaesthesia (n=2), conscious sedation (n=2) or simple analgesia alone (n=1). Meta-analysis revealed a significant effect in favour of using VR to alleviate procedural anxiety (SMD: -0.51, 95%CI: -0.85 to -0.16, p=0.004), when one study was omitted. Sub-group analysis of studies where AIPs was performed without anaesthesia, showed a significant reduction in pain scores for VR cohorts (MD: -1.33, 95%CI: -2.57 to -0.09, p=0.04). No significant differences between groups were found for patient satisfaction or requirements for sedative and analgesic medication. Conclusions This review supports using VR to reduce procedural anxiety and attenuate pain during AIPs performed without anaesthesia. The effect of VR on patient satisfaction and requirements for sedative and analgesic medications remains unclear.