Pilates Enabled Patients with Musculo-Skeletal Symptoms to Function Better

Posted on November 13, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Ms Lynne Gaskell MSc
University of Salford
Manchester UK

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: Musculoskeletal Pain as a result of common problems affecting the back, neck, shoulder, knee and multi-site pain is an increasing cause of reduced function and quality of life, and ever increasing demands on healthcare, Prognosis is often poor with many people reporting persistent symptoms after consulting their primary care practitioner. The likelihood of persistent and recurrent clinical symptoms may accentuate the physical, psychological, and social impacts of musculoskeletal pain particularly with the middle aged and elderly populations. Pilates is an exercise approach that has become increasingly popular in recent years and includes over fifty different exercises to improve flexibility, balance, core strength, core stability. It can therefore can be individualised for people with different needs, preferences, musculoskeletal conditions, ages and abilities. Aligning exercise to patient’s functional needs has been linked to long-term exercise adherence.

This study investigated the personal experiences and perceptions of the impact of Pilates on the day-to-day lives of adults with a myriad of chronic MSK conditions following a 12 week Pilates Exercise Programme.The results were organised into five main themes: 1. Physical Improvements strength, core stability, flexibility and balance. 2. Pilates Promotes an Active Lifestyle and improved performance at work and / or hobbies. 3. Psychosocial benefits and improved confidence, 4. Increased Autonomy in Managing their own Musculoskeletal Condition and 5. Motivation to continue with exercise.

Continue reading →

NSAID Eyedrop + Eye Patch Better at Reducing Pain After Intravitreal Injection

Posted on November 2, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Gentile

Ronald Gentile, MD
Professor of Ophthalmology
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
New York

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: Intravitreal injections have revolutionized the treatment of some of the most common retinal diseases that cause blindness. These diseases include wet age related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy. Intravitreal injections are the most common eye procedure in the world. Pain after an intravitreal injection negatively impacts the patient’s experience. We set out a to find a way to improve the patient’s experience by improving the pain they feel after the intravitreal injection.

MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings?

Response: The main finding was that the NSAID we used, Nepafanac 0.3% suspension, and pressure patching resulted in lower pain scores when compared to the tear drop placebo at both 6 and 24 hours after the intravitreal injection. The NSAID had a greater effect on lowering the pain score and was found statistically significance. Even though the eyepatch was associated with lower pain scores than placebo, the difference did not reach statistical significance.

MedicalResearch.com: What should readers take away from your report?

Response: Readers should understand that patients not only have a fear going blind, they also fear the pain of the treatment. Physicians should place more emphasis on the patients experience and try to decrease or eliminate any pain a patient may have from the intravitreal injections. It would be expected that this should help patient compliance, especially for those patient who need regular intravitreal injections.

MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this work?

Response: Future research should focus on the patients experience and find ways to eliminate any pain a patient may have before, during, and after the intravitreal injections.

MedicalResearch.com: Is there anything else you would like to add?

Response: Yes. Patient satisfaction and the patient experience is something that all ophthalmologists and all doctors need to put on the top of their priority list. Physicians have the greatest ability and insight into this. Having the greatest medicines in the world cant help if a patients fear of pain prevents them from being compliant.

I have no disclosures.

Citation: AAO 2018 abstract

Pain Control Following Intravitreal Injection Using Topical Nepefanac 0.3% or Pressure Patching: A Prospective, Randomized, Placebo Controlled Trial

Nov 2, 2018 @ 6:24 pm

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Patient Expect Opioids for Pain Control after Surgery

Posted on October 29, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Nirmal B. Shah
Anesthesia Resident PGY-IV (CA-III)
Thomas Jefferson University Hospital

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: With the ongoing opioid epidemic, we believe it is important to understand patients’ perceptions of pain medications and pain control after surgery. We believe patients’ expectations and perceptions regarding perioperative pain medications has not been well understood. We were hoping to understand patients’ knowledge, concerns, and biases of pain medication along with information to optimize acute pain management.

The goal of this survey study was to understand patient expectations regarding pain medications including opioids and non- opioids. In the United States, over 100 million surgical procedures are performed every year. Nearly 80% of these patients will experience post-operative pain. Adequate treatment of post-operative pain has been shown to improve clinical and economic outcomes, thus there has been an increased effort towards improving post-operative pain control.

Through our research, we demonstrated that patients expect to experience postoperative pain after a surgical procedure and expect to be prescribed a pain medication. Patients believe that opioid medications will be most effective in treating postoperative pain compared to non-opioid medications, which could be contributing to the opioid epidemic.

503 patients presenting for elective surgery at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, PA were sampled during this survey. 76% of patients expected to be prescribed an opioid pain medication at discharge, 47% of patients expected to be prescribed acetaminophen (Tylenol) pain medication at discharge, while 30% of patients expected to be prescribed an NSAID (Motrin) pain medication at discharge. 94% of patients expecting to receive an opioid pain medication believe it would be effective in controlling their post-operative pain. This difference was not observed in patients expecting prescriptions for non-opioid pain medications. Overall, patients expect to experience pain after surgery and be prescribed analgesics they perceived to be most effective, opioids. Continue reading →

Program Can Help Parents Manage Kids’ Pain from Vaccines

Posted on October 22, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Taddio

Dr. Anna Taddio BScPhm PhD
Professor at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy
University of Toronto and Senior Associate Scientis
The Hospital for Sick Children

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: In our prior research, parents have reported they are not educated about how to soothe their infants during painful procedures like vaccinations and that they want to know how they can help. Parents also reported that concerns about their infant’s pain affects their decision-making around vaccination. We therefore set out to target parents for education about how to soothe their infants.

We picked the hospital setting because almost all parents are in the hospital for some period of time following the birth of an infant and already routinely receive education about healthy baby topics. Providing information about pain management was easy to add. We found that about 1 out of 10 parents that were given this information acted on it.

MedicalResearch.com: What should readers take away from your report?

Response: No parent wants to see their child in pain and a parents’ desire to reduce pain is supported when we provide them with evidence-based strategies to use. These strategies are easy to use, and not only decrease unnecessary infant suffering, they also help parents. Parents are less anxious about their children getting vaccinations. Attending to infant distress is also important for healthy infant development. Targeting parents at the time of birth also ensures that parents will use and advocate for better pain care for their children across different medical settings and throughout the lifespan.

MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this work?

Response: We need to find ways to reach more parents so that they can use this information to help their children. We also need to follow parents over time and teach them about the strategies that are helpful for children of different ages. Finally, we need to study how better pain management practices impacts on vaccination rates.

Citation:

Effectiveness of a hospital-based postnatal parent education intervention about pain management during infant vaccination: a randomized controlled trial Anna Taddio BScPhm PhD, Vibhuti Shah MD, Lucie Bucci MA, Noni E. MacDonald MD, Horace Wong MSc, Derek Stephens MSc

CMAJ 2018 October 22;190:E1245-52. doi: 10.1503/cmaj.180175

Oct 22, 2018 @ 9:53 pm

Genetic Locus Linked to Migraine Risk in African American Children

Posted on October 17, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Hakon Hakonarson, MD, PhD
Corresponding Author
Xiao Chang, PhD
Lead Author
The Center for Applied Genomics
Children’s Hospital Philadelphia
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: Migraine is a genetic disorder characterized by recurrent and intense headaches often accompanied by visual disturbances. Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) are a powerful hypothesis-free tool for investigating the genetic architecture of human disease. Currently, multiple GWASs have been conducted on European adults with migraine that have successfully identified several migraine susceptibility genes involved in neuronal and vascular functions.

Considering the prevalence of migraines varies across ethnicities, the genetic risk factors may be different in patients of African ancestries and European ancestries. In addition, if migraine presents at an early age (childhood), it may reflect elevated biological predisposition from genetic factors or increased susceptibility to environmental risk factors.

We performed the first GWAS to investigate the susceptibility genes associated with migraine in African-American children. The main out come was that common variants at the 5q33.1 locus in the human genome are associated with migraine risk in African-American children. The genetic underpinnings at this locus responsible for this finding are less relevant in patients of European ancestry. Continue reading →

Fibromyalgia: Scan Reveals Increased Brain Activation in Pain, Emotion and Affect Areas

Posted on October 11, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Daniel S. Albrecht, Ph.D.
Research Fellow, Department of Radiology
Harvard Medical School

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Can you briefly describe what is meant by fibromyalgia?

Response: Fibromyalgia (FM) is a poorly understood chronic condition characterized by widespread musculoskeletal pain, fatigue, unrefreshing sleep, memory deficits and attention difficulties, among other symptoms. FM affects an estimated 4 million adults in the U.S., but despite this prevalence, effective therapies for treating FM are lacking.

This combined MR/PET image highlights areas of the brain in which patients with fibromyalgia were found to have increased glial activation, compared with unaffected control volunteers.
Credit: Marco Loggia, PhD, Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital

Part of the reason for the paucity of effective therapeutics is insufficient knowledge of the underlying mechanisms contributing to FM. Previous work from co-senior author of the current manuscript, Eva Kosek, MD, PhD, and collaborators at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden found elevated inflammatory molecules in the cerebrospinal fluid of FM patients, which could be reflective of brain neuroinflammation in these patients. However, no study had directly assessed the presence of neuroinflammation in the brain of FM patients.

Co-senior author of the study, Marco Loggia, PhD, and collaborators showed in a 2015 Brain publication that individuals with chronic low back pain (cLBP) exhibit evidence of brain neuroinflammation, specifically activation of glial cells. Our team utilized simultaneous MR/PET imaging to image brain levels of the 18 kDa translocator protein (TSPO), which is widely used as a marker of glial activation due to vast upregulation of TSPO in glial cells, e.g. microglia and astrocytes, in preclinical models of inflammation and neurological disease. Dr. Loggia sought to extend these finding in cLBP to FM, hypothesizing that activation of glial cells may also be associated with FM pathology. To this end, we used the same TSPO PET tracer to image 20 FM patients and 16 healthy controls.

During a conference where I was presenting preliminary results of the fibromyalgia study, Dr. Loggia met with Dr. Kosek and discovered that, across the Atlantic, her group was performing a very similar study, imaging 11 FM patients and 11 controls with the same TSPO PET compound. They decided to form a collaboration, and logistic talks began to determine the best strategy to combine and analyze the separate datasets. In addition to PET imaging with the TSPO tracer, which is suggested to reflect activated microglia and astrocytes, Dr. Kosek’s group also collected PET scans using a tracer thought to bind specifically to astrocytes rather than microglia. This tracer was used in order to discern the relative contributions of microglia and astrocytes to any observed differences in TSPO PET signal.

Continue reading →

Need For Better Treatments For Chronic Nerve Pain After Trauma Remains Serious Problem

Posted on September 25, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

John Douglas Markman, M.D. Director, Translational Pain Research Program Department of Neurosurgery Associate Professor University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry

Dr. Markman

John Douglas Markman, M.D.
Director, Translational Pain Research Program
Department of Neurosurgery
Professor
University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: Peripheral nerve injury after trauma and surgery is a leading cause of chronic pain and disability. These pain syndromes are often considered to have an underlying neuropathic mechanism because there is altered sensory processing (e.g., numbness, allodynia) at the site of trauma or surgical incision that localizes to the anatomic distribution of a peripheral nerve. A previous eight-week randomized clinical trial demonstrated efficacy for pregabalin in patients with chronic post-traumatic or -surgical pain.(10) The longer duration of treatment of this study was designed to meet the regulatory standard for a chronic pain indication in the US, 12 weeks of treatment at maintenance or fixed dosing.

Continue reading →

Cannabinoid Drugs May Slightly Increase Pain Threshold

Posted on September 20, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Martin De Vita, MS
Doctoral Candidate
Clinical Psychology Department
Syracuse University

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: Despite widely held beliefs that cannabis is effective for pain relief, experimental trials have produced mixed results. As result, the analgesic properties of cannabinoid drugs have remained poorly understood. We aimed to clarify these findings by extracting data from every available experimental pain study and analyzing the results as a whole. We found that numerous aspects of pain were being influenced in different ways. We found that cannabinoid drugs did not significantly reduce the intensity of experimental pain, but they did produce small-sized reductions in pain unpleasantness. Cannabinoids produced significant analgesic effects on pain threshold and tolerance. There was no significant effect of cannabinoids on mechanical hyperalgesia. Continue reading →

Patient-Reported Symptom Relief Following Medical Cannabis Consumption

Posted on September 13, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Jacob M. Vigil, PhD
Department of Psychology
University of New Mexico

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: For the past several years we have been using observational research designs as a means to overcome some of the logistical and legal barriers for conducting patient outcomes medical cannabis research. In partnership with the software developers of the Releaf App which currently is the largest repository of user-entered information on the consumption and effects of cannabis use in the United States, we have been able to measure how patients choose to consume cannabis and the effects of those choices in real-time. Since its release in 2016, the commercially developed Releaf App has been the only publicly available, incentive-free patient educational software program designed for recording how individual cannabis usage sessions correspond to immediate changes in symptom intensity levels and experienced side effects.

Continue reading →

Invasive Procedures For Chronic Pain Have Not Been Proven to Work

Posted on September 12, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Jonas

Wayne B. Jonas, MD
Clinical Professor of Family Medicine
Uniformed Services University and at
Georgetown University School of Medicine

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: The search for non-drug approaches to chronic pain is a major recommendation in many recent guidelines for both pain management and reduction in the use of opioids. Surgical and invasive procedures are non-drug approaches often used for pain conditions like back pain and arthritis, so good evidence is needed to determine the safety and efficacy of these procedures. Properly done randomized, placebo controlled trials are the best way (the gold standard) to get that evidence, so we did a thorough evaluation of such research, using standard systematic review and meta-analysis methods.

Continue reading →

Surgeons Likely Overprescribing Opioids After Rhinoplasty

Posted on September 9, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Shaye

David A. Shaye, M.D., FACS
Instructor in Otolaryngology
Harvard Medical School

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: Cosmetic and functional rhinoplasty (nasal surgery) is the most common procedure we perform and traditionally post operative pain medication includes opioids.

In light of the recent opioid epidemic, we wished to investigate if patients pain was being treated over-treated by surgeons.

Of 173 Rhinoplasties that we performed, the majority of patients received post operative opioid tablets (an average of 28 tablets). However 11% of patients did not fill these prescriptions at all, and only 2 of the 178 patients required refills.

We believe patients experienced less pain than surgeons anticipated.

Continue reading →

Mobile Devices Support Clinical Trials of Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain

Posted on September 6, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Kravitz

Richard L Kravitz, MD, MSPH
Professor, General Internal Medicine
Director, UC Center Sacramento

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: The study was designed to address tso problems. The first is that many patients with chronic pain struggling to find a workable regimen.

The second is more general. Patient sometimes I hesitate to participate in clinical research because they right away do not see the relevance I directly to them selves. And have one trials are away I’m addressing both problems. Continue reading →

ORILISSA™ (elagolix) Now Approved for Management of Moderate to Severe Pain Associated with Endometriosis

Posted on July 26, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Carlson

Dr. Dawn Carlson MD MPH
Vice President, General Medicine Development
AbbVie

MedicalResearch.com: Please provide some background on this announcement. Would you briefly explain what endometriosis is? Whom does it affect and how does it interfere with quality of life?

Response: Endometriosis is one of the most common gynecologic disorders in the U.S that affects an estimated one in 10 women of reproductive age. It occurs when tissue similar to the lining of the uterus starts growing outside of the uterus, where it doesn’t belong.

The symptoms of endometriosis, including pain with menstrual periods and between periods, and with sexual intercourse, can be debilitating and significantly impact day-to-day activities of women’s lives, personally and professionally. Unfortunately, women with endometriosis can suffer for up to 10 years and visit multiple physicians before receiving a proper diagnosis. Unresolved endometriosis pain results in higher healthcare costs from emergency department visits and repeat surgeries. Continue reading →

Ketamine vs Opioids for Acute Pain in the Emergency Department

Posted on July 23, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Schwarz

Evan Schwarz, MD FACEP, FACMT
Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine
Medical Toxicology Fellowship Director
Section Chief Medical Toxicology
Advisory Dean in the Office of Student Affairs
Division of Emergency Medicine
Washington University School of Medicine

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: Ketamine is being increasingly used in the emergency department (ED) for a variety of conditions, including as an analgesic. While its usage continues to increase, there are limited studies evaluating ketamine as an analgesic in the emergency department.

Most of the studies evaluating ketamine utilized it as an adjunct to an opioid, however, multiple recommendations on blogs and other websites recommend ketamine as a single agent. The purpose of the meta-analysis was to compare the analgesic effect of ketamine compared to an opioid in adult patients presenting with acute pain to the ED.

In this study, we found that ketamine was non-inferior to opioids. We also found that the number of severe adverse events to be similar between both groups.

Continue reading →

Migraine Management Crucial For Treatment of Tinnitus

Posted on July 17, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Jen-Tsung Lai, MD
Department of Otolaryngology
Kuang-Tien General Hospital
Shalu, Taichung, Taiwan

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: Cochlear Migraine( CM ) is a new proposed diagnosis in 2018. CM could present as fluctuating hearing loss or sudden hearing loss that provoked the tinnitus.

Furthermore , CM with underlying hypersensitive brain might cause the tinnitus switch out of function.

MedicalResearch.com: What should readers take away from your report?

Response: Cochlear Migraine (could be one of the key code for chronic tinnitus. Similar to vestibular migraine (VM ) in vertigo diagnosis, Cochlear Migraine is a very important cause of tinnitus and heating loss.

MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this work?

Response: The clinical implication : the migraine management is crucial for tinnitus treatment.

Citation:

Hwang J, Tsai S, Liu T, Chen Y, Lai J. Association of Tinnitus and Other Cochlear Disorders With a History of Migraines. JAMA Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. Published online July 12, 2018. doi:10.1001/jamaoto.2018.0939

Acupuncture For Pain in Breast Cancer Patients on Aromatase Inhibitors

Posted on July 16, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Hershman

Dawn Hershman, MD, MS, FASCO
Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology
Leader, Breast Cancer Program
Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center
Columbia University Medical Center

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: Aromatase inhibitors are effective in reducing the risk of recurrence in hormone sensitive breast cancer, however they commonly cause joint pain and stiffness that can lead to early discontinuation of treatment. We know that women who stop early do not get the same benefits as those who continue for the full duration.

Acupuncture has been shown to improve a variety of pain syndromes. We conducted a large multicenter trial among women with joint pain on aromatase inhibitors and randomized patients to true acupuncture, sham acupuncture and a waitlist control arm.

We found that acupuncture resulted in more pain reduction than the other 2 control groups. Measuring pain can be challenging in clinical trials. We now know that a meaningful reduction for a patient is 2 points on a 10 point scale. We found that nearly 60 percent of women in the true acupuncture group experienced at least a 2-point reduction in pain, versus 33 percent of the sham acupuncture group and 31 percent of the controls. These results where highly statistically significant. Continue reading →

Gabapentin and Pregabalin Should Be Used Cautiously in Hemodialysis Patients

Posted on June 6, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Ishida

Dr. Julie H. Ishida MD
Department of Medicine, Division of Nephrology
University of California, San Francisco and
San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: Gabapentin and pregabalin are used for the management of symptoms such as neuropathic pain, itching, and restless leg syndrome in patients receiving hemodialysis. However, hemodialysis patients may be particularly vulnerable to adverse events related to these agents, which are cleared by the kidney, but there is limited data evaluating their risk in this population.

Gabapentin and pregabalin use were associated with risk for altered mental status, fall, and fracture, and in some cases, even at doses that would be considered safe for use in this population. Continue reading →

Zosano Developing Dermal Patch to Quickly Relieve Migraine Pain

Posted on June 4, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Peter Schmidt, MD, MSc
Senior Director, medical Affairs and Clinical Development
Zosano Pharma

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: This was a post-hoc analysis of Zosano’s pivotal efficacy trial using its adhesive dermally-applied microarray (ADAM) zolmitriptan formulation, M207. The trial found that M207 was effective versus placebo for the co-primary endpoints of pain freedom and most bothersome symptom (MBS) freedom, both at two hours. The MBS endpoint was just ratified as a new endpoint in the FDA’s February 2018 guidance for acute migraine trials. The stated aim of this new endpoint is “…to better align the study outcome with the symptom(s) of primary importance to patients…” This is logical, as a given migraine patient may not experience all four previous symptom endpoints (pain, photophobia, phonophobia, nausea). Continue reading →

Cigna Creates Online Initiative To Drive Patient-Provider Conversations Regarding Pain and Opioid Prescriptions

Posted on May 23, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Lustig

Dr. Stuart Lustig, M.D., M.P.H
National Medical Executive for Behavioral Health
Cigna

Dr. Lustig discusses Cigna’s efforts to curb the opioid epidemic.

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for the Applying American Society of Addiction Medicine Performance Measures in Commercial Health Insurance and Services Data study?

Response: In 2016 Cigna announced a collaboration with the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) to improve treatment for people suffering from substance use disorders and establish performance measures and best practices for addiction treatment. Mining anonymized data from Cigna’s administrative data, Brandeis University researchers have validated a new way to hone in on trouble spots where substance use disorder treatment for opioid, alcohol and other drug dependence is suboptimal, like the way police departments use computers to identify high crime areas in need of greater scrutiny and attention.

The technique uses ASAM-defined performance measures to assess substance use disorder treatment patterns, giving researchers the ability to sort through administrative data and measure to the extent to which patients being treated for opioid or alcohol use disorder are receiving and using evidenced-based medications proven to be effective in improving outcomes and retention in treatment. It also measures whether those patients received support during substance withdrawal – a critical factor in the success of addiction treatment plans. The performance measures were first tested on the Veterans’ Health Administration in 2016 and now, on data from Cigna.

Continue reading →

Does Chiropractic Care Benefit Low Back Pain?

Posted on May 21, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Christine Goertz DC, PhD
Vice Chancellor for Research and Health Policy
Palmer College of Chiropractic

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: Low back pain in the leading cause of physical disability worldwide, with up to 80% of US adults seeking care for this debilitating condition at some point in their lives. Low-back pain is also one of the most common causes of disability in U.S. military personnel.

Although a number of studies have previously evaluated chiropractic care for low back pain, the vast majority had small sample sizes and did not study chiropractic as part of a multi-disciplinary approach to care in real world settings, including the military.

Continue reading →

Ibuprofen Can Not Replace Antibiotics in Uncomplicated UTI

Posted on May 17, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Vik

Ingvild Vik MD
Doctoral Research Fellow
Department of General Practice
Institute of Health and Society – UiO
University of Oslo, Norway

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: Uncomplicated urinary tract infection (UTI) is the most common bacterial infection in women. It is painful and troublesome, and even though it is often self-limiting most women who see a doctor will be prescribed an antibiotic, as antibiotics provide quick symptom relief. Antibiotic resistance is a growing, serious public health problem. Antibiotic use is the main contributor to antibiotic resistance, and to stop the rapid development it is crucial that we reduce unnecessary use of antibiotics. Antibiotics can cause unpleasant and potentially severe side effects, so avoiding unnecessary use is also beneficial for the individual patient.

A small German trial published in 2010 by Bleidorn et al. suggested that ibuprofen was non-inferior to the antibiotic ciprofloxacin in achieving symptomatic cure in uncomplicated UTI. This inspired us to conduct a larger trial to compare the anti-inflammatory drug ibuprofen to antibiotics in the treatment of uncomplicated UTI. Continue reading →

Sciatica: Biomarker Demonstrates Inflammation, Not Just Compression of Nerve Roots

Posted on May 11, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Daniel Albrecht, PhD
Research Fellow in Radiology, Harvard Medical School
Research Fellow, Massachusetts General Hospital

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: A great deal of preclinical work in animal models of pain has established that activation of peripheral immune cells or, in the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord), immune cells called “glia” (microglia and astrocytes) play a key role in the establishment and/or maintenance of persistent pain. For instance, if you pharmacologically block activation of these cells in the nervous system, you are able to reduce/inhibit/prevent pain behaviors, e.g. in animals who have received a nerve injury.

This observation is very exciting, because it suggests that blocking neuroinflammation may be a viable way of treating pain. However, the evidence linking human chronic pain with neuroinflammation has so far been limited.

In this study we show, for the first time, that patients with chronic sciatica (that is, back pain that shoots down the leg) demonstrate elevations in the levels of a protein called the translocator protein (TSPO) in the spinal cord and in the nerve roots.

Because TSPO is a marker of neuroinflammation, our results suggest that sciatica is associated with neuroinflammation.

While on average patients do show elevations in the levels of the TSPO, we also saw significant variability across individuals. Importantly, patients that show stronger elevations (in the nerve roots) were those who benefit the most from receiving a local anti-inflammatory treatment (epidural spinal injection). This makes sense: patients whose nerve roots are inflamed benefit from an anti-inflammatory treatment. Those whose nerve roots aren’t inflamed, don’t receive the same benefit. In the latter case, the source of the inflammation and pain may not be the nerve roots, but may be the spinal cord, or, as we showed in a previous paper (Loggia et al., Brain 2015), the brain. Continue reading →

Not All In Your Head: Psychological Therapies Not a Panacea for Pain

Posted on May 7, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Reid

Dr. M. Carrington Reid, MD PhD
Associate Professor of Medicine
Irving Sherwood Wright Associate Professor in Geriatrics
Joachim Silbermann Family Clinical Scholar
Geriatric Palliative Care
Joan and Sanford I. Weill Department of Medicine
Weill Cornell Medical College

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: Major guidelines (American College of Physicians, Centers for Disease Control, Veterans Administration) on the management of chronic pain strongly encourage clinicians to use nonpharmacologic approaches to include psychological therapies when managing pain.

While many studies have evaluated psychological therapies such as cognitive behavioral theraphy (CBT) in nonelderly populations with chronic pain, far fewer have evaluated these treatments in studies of older adults. We identified 22 randomized controlled trials that evaluated a psychological therapy for chronic pain in older adults and examined the impact of these treatments on salient outcomes to include ability to reduce pain and pain-related disability, improve patients’ self efficacy to manage pain, and improve their physical health and function and their psychological health (by reducing rates of anxiety and depression).

Continue reading →

Women and Uninsured More Likely to Suffer from Migraines

Posted on May 7, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Rizzoli

Paul B. Rizzoli, M.D., FAAN, FAHS
Department of Neurology
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Clinical and Fellowship Director, John R Graham Headache Center
Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital
Assistant Professor of Neurology
Harvard Medical School

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: Migraine and other recurrent headache disorders disproportionately affect otherwise healthy, middle-aged people, particularly women, and are a leading cause of suffering and disability.

Accurate epidemiologic information is vital for providers, researchers and policy makers. In this paper we surveyed the most recent data from population-based studies in the United States to assess the burden and impact of these conditions. Our search included such sources as the National Health Interview Study (NHIS), the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS) and the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS).

We found that the prevalence and burden of self-reported migraine and other severe headache has remained stable but high in the past 19 years, affecting roughly 1 out of every 6 Americans (15.3%) and 1 in 5 women (20.7%) over a 3-month period.

Among other findings was that headache is proportionately more burdensome those in middle age (elderly also), those who are unemployed and those who are disabled or who have low family income. Headache represents roughly 3% of all annual emergency department visits. Continue reading →

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Category Archives: Pain Research

Pilates Enabled Patients with Musculo-Skeletal Symptoms to Function Better

NSAID Eyedrop + Eye Patch Better at Reducing Pain After Intravitreal Injection

Patient Expect Opioids for Pain Control after Surgery

Program Can Help Parents Manage Kids’ Pain from Vaccines

Genetic Locus Linked to Migraine Risk in African American Children

Fibromyalgia: Scan Reveals Increased Brain Activation in Pain, Emotion and Affect Areas

Need For Better Treatments For Chronic Nerve Pain After Trauma Remains Serious Problem

Cannabinoid Drugs May Slightly Increase Pain Threshold

Patient-Reported Symptom Relief Following Medical Cannabis Consumption

Invasive Procedures For Chronic Pain Have Not Been Proven to Work

Surgeons Likely Overprescribing Opioids After Rhinoplasty

Mobile Devices Support Clinical Trials of Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain

ORILISSA™ (elagolix) Now Approved for Management of Moderate to Severe Pain Associated with Endometriosis

Ketamine vs Opioids for Acute Pain in the Emergency Department

Migraine Management Crucial For Treatment of Tinnitus

Acupuncture For Pain in Breast Cancer Patients on Aromatase Inhibitors

More Weight Loss Linked To Greater Decrease in Knee Arthritis Pain

Gabapentin and Pregabalin Should Be Used Cautiously in Hemodialysis Patients

Zosano Developing Dermal Patch to Quickly Relieve Migraine Pain

Cigna Creates Online Initiative To Drive Patient-Provider Conversations Regarding Pain and Opioid Prescriptions

Does Chiropractic Care Benefit Low Back Pain?

Ibuprofen Can Not Replace Antibiotics in Uncomplicated UTI

Sciatica: Biomarker Demonstrates Inflammation, Not Just Compression of Nerve Roots

Not All In Your Head: Psychological Therapies Not a Panacea for Pain

Women and Uninsured More Likely to Suffer from Migraines