Correlation of (99m) Tc-DPD SPECT/CT Scan Findings and Diagnostic Blockades of Lumbar Medial Branches in Patients with Unspecific Low Back Pain in a Randomized-Controlled Trial.

Objective: Zygapophyseal joints are the origin of pain in up to 30% of those with unspecific chronic low back pain. Until recently, no reliable clinical tests have been found to identify the patients who would benefit from denervation of the zygapophyseal joints by medial branch blockades.

Design: We performed a prospective randomized placebo-controlled trial to evaluate the value of high-resolution single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT)/computed tomography (CT) of the lumbar spine prior to any diagnostic infiltration of the medial branches.

[Anaesthesia and pain therapy: perioperative management of patients with complex regional pain syndrome].

The complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is indeed a very complex pain situation. The treatment of CRPS is challenging. Patients with an acute CRPS or a CRPS in the past, who have to undergo surgery, provide a special situation.

Continuous subacromial bupivacaine infusion for postoperative analgesia after open acromioplasty and rotator cuff repair: preliminary results.

Shoulder surgery is often associated with severe postoperative pain. Previous results in which single or continuous subacromial infiltration of local anesthetics was used as a method of postoperative pain relief have been contradictory. This study was initiated to evaluate the postoperative analgesic effect of a subacromial continuous 0.

Cost benefit analysis of neurostimulation for chronic pain.

Objectives: To assess the healthcare utilization of patients with intractable chronic neuropathic pain treated with spinal cord stimulation and peripheral nerve stimulation and to provide a cost-benefit analysis.

Methods: The case records of 222 consecutive patients who received spinal cord stimulation or peripheral nerve stimulation implants at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation between 1990 and 1998 were reviewed retrospectively. Patients were asked to complete a Neurostimulation Outcome Questionnaire designed to gather data on utilization of healthcare resources starting 1 year before surgical implantation.

Small-dose intrathecal clonidine and isobaric bupivacaine for orthopedic surgery: a dose-response study.

We examined the dose-response relationship of intrathecal clonidine at small doses ( View Article and Find Full Text PDF

[Pain management in surgical wards. Quality and solutions for improvement in the early postoperative period].

Introduction: Following guidelines pain levels should not exceed a score of 3 on the visual analog scale (VAS 1-10). We were interested in the actual surgical pain management of the postoperative period and the potential influences of a nurse-controlled intravenous morphine administration (NCA) on its quality.

Methods: Interventional study: interview of patients and nursing staff and examination of records concerning pain treatment following surgery.

[Optimizing postoperative pain therapy on acute surgical wards].

Unlabelled: The aim of this interdisciplinary project was the improvement of postoperative pain management on surgery wards of an university hospital: Pain medication should be enlarged with the possibility to administer an opium-medication i.v. (non only s.

Common nerve blocks in chronic pain management.

Anesthesiologists have become increasingly involved with the management of chronic pain patients in the operating room, on the surgical floor, and in the outpatient pain facility setting (often interdisciplinary). Based upon the authors' practice of regional anesthesia, the most specific contribution to chronic pain management arguably remains the practice of diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic injections of the neuraxis, peripheral nerves, and the autonomic nervous system.

Combined effect of patient variables on sensory level after spinal 0.5% plain bupivacaine.

Background: The combined effect of age, weight, height, and vertebral column length (VCL) on the distribution of isobaric 0.5% bupivacaine within the subarachnoid space is unclear. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the combined influence of these patient variables on the upper sensory level and on its predictability.

Reduction of covalent binding of aflatoxin B1 to rabbit liver DNA after immunization against this carcinogen.

The covalent binding of [3H]aflatoxin B1 (AF) to liver DNA was determined, 6 h after oral administration to male rabbits. A Covalent Binding Index, CBI (mumol AF/mol DNA-P)/(mmol AF/kg b.w.