Pain in older cancer patients is a common event, and many times it is undertreated. Barriers to cancer pain management in the elderly include concerns about the use of medications, the atypical manifestations of pain in the elderly, and side effects related to opioid and other analgesic drugs. The care of older cancer patients experiencing pain involves a comprehensive assessment, which include...

Distal esophageal spasm is characterized by premature contractions of the distal smooth muscle leading to non-obstructive dysphagia and non-cardiac chest pain. Diagnosis requires presence symptoms along with evidence at least 20% in setting a normal lower sphincter relaxation on high-resolution manometry. New updates Chicago Classification have improved diagnostic accuracy this method. Function...

Fibromyalgia is a common musculoskeletal pain condition associated with chronic widespread pain, tenderness at various points on the body, fatigue, and sleep abnormalities. Individuals with fibromyalgia often have comorbid anxiety, depression, and/or other pain syndromes. Research into pharmacologic remedies for fibromyalgia has demonstrated efficacy for a variety of agents, but pharmacology is...

Torture is widely practiced throughout the world. Recent studies indicate that 50% of all countries, including 79% of the G-20 countries, continue to practice systematic torture despite a universal ban. It is well known that torture has numerous physical, psychological, and pain-related sequelae that can inflict a devastating and enduring burden on its victims. Health care professionals, partic...

There is tremendous interpatient variability in the response to analgesic therapy (even for efficacious treatments), which can be source of great frustration clinical practice. This has led calls “precision medicine” or personalized pain therapeutics (ie, empirically based algorithms that determine optimal treatments, treatment combinations, individual patients) would presumably improve both ca...

A group of family physicians, obstetricians, midwives, obstetric anesthesiologists, and childbirth educators attended an evidence-based symposium in 2001 on the nature and management of labor pain and discussed a series of systematic reviews that focused on methods of labor pain management. Parenteral opioids provide modest pain relief in labor, and little evidence supports the use of one agent...

Fibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic disorder characterized by multifocal pain and other associated somatic symptoms including fatigue, insomnia, cognitive/memory problems, and even psychological distress. It appears that 2-4% of the general population suffers from FM. FM negatively impacts the physical functioning of its patients, as evidenced by difficulties with multiple daily activities, as well ...

OBJECTIVES To assess the efficacy of a 6-week interdisciplinary treatment that combines coordinated psychological, medical, educational, and physiotherapeutic components (PSYMEPHY) over time compared to standard pharmacologic care. METHODS Randomised controlled trial with follow-up at 6 months for the PSYMEPHY and control groups and 12 months for the PSYMEPHY group. Participants were 153 outp...

INTRODUCTION Acute low back pain is one of the most common health problems especially in industrialized countries where 75 per cent of the population develop it at least once during their life. This study examined the efficacy of thermotherapy and cryotherapy, alongside a routine pharmacologic treatment, on pain relief in patients with acute low back pain referring an orthopedic clinic in Shahr...

OBJECTIVE To describe how pain is assessed (characteristic, location, and intensity) and managed in clinical practice in patients undergoing endovascular procedures in the catheterization laboratory setting. METHOD Cross-sectional study with retrospective data collection. RESULTS Overall, 345 patients were included; 116 (34%) experienced post-procedural pain; in 107 (92%), pain characterist...