Feature Channels: Pain

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Researchers from the University of California San Francisco studied a sample of women scheduled for breast cancer surgery and sought to determine the occurrence rate for preoperative breast pain, describe characteristics of the pain, evaluate the demographic and clinical variation in the women with preoperative pain, and assess the role of in pro-and anti inflammatory cytokine genes. They concluded that preoperative breast pain involves an inflammatory process and this information may help identify women who are at risk for preoperative breast pain. Their findings were published in The Journal of Pain.

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The antidepressant drug duloxetine, known commercially as Cymbalta, helped relieve painful tingling feelings caused by chemotherapy in 59 percent of patients, a new study finds. This is the first clinical trial to find an effective treatment for this pain.

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Exercise helps to alleviate pain related to nerve damage (neuropathic pain) by reducing levels of certain inflammation-promoting factors, suggests an experimental study in the June issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia, official journal of the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS).

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Chronic pain, by definition, is difficult to manage, but a new study by UCSF scientists shows how a cell therapy might one day be used not only to quell some common types of persistent and difficult-to-treat pain, but also to cure the conditions that give rise to them.

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How will pain care be influenced by the anticipated reforms in the U.S. healthcare system? Current models of healthcare delivery offer both obstacles and opportunities for achieving quality and effectiveness in pain-related care, according to Daniel Carr, MD, Tufts University in his keynote address at the American Pain Society Annual Scientific Meeting.

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The latest genetic and biological research shows that migraine is a neurological, not vascular, disorder and both acute and preventive treatments being developed target peripheral and central nervous systems, according to a prominent migraine expert addressing the American Pain Society (APS), www.ampainsoc.org, today.

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Training the brain to reduce pain could be a promising approach for treating phantom limb pain and complex regional pain syndrome, according to an internationally known neuroscience researcher speaking today at the American Pain Society’s Annual Scientific Meeting, www.ampainsoc.org.

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Nicole Soriano had headaches before but nothing like the one that struck in the middle of one summer night. A coincidence led nine days later to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where a rare type of migraine was diagnosed and treated – but any moment during that time could have been disastrous.

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A clinical study of 30 adult patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine has shown that smoked cannabis may be an effective treatment for spasticity – a common and disabling symptom of this neurological disease.

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Letting autoworkers sit while they reach into a car's interior could help prevent shoulder and back strain - but another solution might be to tilt the entire car so that workers can stand up. That's the finding of two recent studies, which tested two ways to protect autoworkers from injury.

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Arthritis month highlights importance of clinical expertise, research and technology to aid in earlier identification of joint diseases, better long-term outcomes.

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According to evidence-based research, too many patients still experience PONV following surgery, despite the use of antiemetic prophylactic drug combinations alone.

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Chronic pain sufferers who learn to dwell less on their ailments may sleep better and experience less day-to-day pain, according to results of research conducted on 214 people with chronic face and jaw pain.

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Dr. Mark Green, director of the Headache Center at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, provides insight into new guidelines released by the American Academy of Neurology on migraine treatments.

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Although botulinum toxin A ("Botox") injections are U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved for preventive treatment for chronic migraines, a review and analysis of previous studies finds a small to modest benefit for patients with chronic migraine headaches and chronic daily headaches, although botox injections were not associated with greater benefit than placebo for preventing episodic migraine or chronic tension-type headaches, according to an article in the April 25 issue of JAMA.

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Research shows that many treatments can help prevent migraine in certain people, yet few people with migraine who are candidates for these preventive treatments actually use them, according to new guidelines issued by the American Academy of Neurology. The guidelines, which were co-developed with the American Headache Society, will be announced at the American Academy of Neurology’s 64th Annual Meeting in New Orleans and published in the April 24, 2012, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill describe how exploiting the molecular mechanism behind acupuncture resulted in six-day pain relief in animal models. They call this new therapeutic approach PAPupuncture.

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Patients with addictive disorders who take methadone or other opioid medications for pain will experience heightened sensitivity to pain, known as hyperalgesia, and new research published in The Journal of Pain shows that the condition does not improve over the course of treatment.

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Patients coping with the complex pain disorder fibromyalgia often have difficulty sleeping, and a new study published in The Journal of Pain reports that despite the negative quality of life implications, poor sleep is not a significant predictor of fibromyalgia pain intensity and duration.

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Findings may eventually lead to new treatments for other types of headache.