Publications by authors named "Alexios G Carayannopoulos"

Article Synopsis
  • * A thorough review of literature from 2017 to October 2023 was conducted to form evidence-based recommendations, with specific criteria used to evaluate the studies.
  • * The resulting guidelines provide best practices for safely improving neurostimulation outcomes, intended to aid healthcare professionals in making informed decisions.
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Cognitive-behavioral therapy for chronic pain (CBT-CP) is an important evidence-based non-pharmacologic treatment for chronic back and neck pain that is frequently recommended as a component of multidisciplinary treatment. However, the success of CBP-CP's implementation in clinical settings is affected by a variety of poorly understood obstacles to patient engagement with CBT-CP. Expanding upon the limited prior research conducted in heterogeneous practice settings, this study examines patterns of treatment initiation for CBT-CP at an interdisciplinary, hospital-based chronic pain practice and conducts exploratory comparisons between groups of patients who did and did not engage in CBT-CP after receiving a referral.

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Objective: Chronic low back pain (CLBP) is multifactorial in nature, with recent research highlighting the role of multifidus dysfunction in a subset of nonspecific CLBP. This review aimed to provide a foundational reference that elucidates the pathophysiological cascade of multifidus dysfunction, how it contrasts with other CLBP etiologies and the role of restorative neurostimulation.

Methods: A scoping review of the literature.

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Background: Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) is an important option for patients with chronic neuropathic pain. In the United States, a successful SCS trial determines eligibility for SCS implant. Metrics to determine success are often self-reported and subjective, which may limit achievement of patient goals.

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Background: Chronic pain accounts for several hundred billion dollars in total treatment costs, and lost productivity annually. Selecting cost-effective pain treatments can reduce the financial burden on both individuals and society. Targeted drug delivery (TDD), whereby medications used to treat pain are delivered directly to the intrathecal space, remains an important treatment modality for chronic pain refractory to oral medication management.

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Introduction: There is an absence of literature describing Medicare utilization by physiatrists, despite their key role in treating Medicare enrollees with qualifying disabilities and common neuromusculoskeletal conditions.

Objective: To analyze Medicare data regarding physiatrists and their beneficiaries, services, and reimbursement, as well as trends in utilization and geographic distribution.

Design And Setting: Retrospective analysis of publicly available Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services data for Medicare beneficiaries receiving physiatric services from 2012 to 2017.

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Pain is a multidimensional experience mediated by distributed neural networks in the brain. To study this phenomenon, EEGs were collected from 20 subjects with chronic lumbar radiculopathy, 20 age and gender matched healthy subjects, and 17 subjects with chronic lumbar pain scheduled to receive an implanted spinal cord stimulator. Analysis of power spectral density, coherence, and phase-amplitude coupling using conventional statistics showed that there were no significant differences between the radiculopathy and control groups after correcting for multiple comparisons.

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As the general population ages and lives longer with chronic disease and related disability, an increasing number of individuals may be pre-cluded from participating and excelling in traditional land-based therapy or exercise alone, despite its known benefits. This article discusses the benefits of water as an exercise and therapeutic medium, as well as the value of combining both water and land modalities, which enhance the benefits of exercise synergistically. This combined water and land approach has the potential to help clients achieve greater therapeutic benefits and clinical outcomes.

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Background: Patients are increasingly using the Internet to access health information. Patient awareness and education are crucial to advancing the field of PM&R, but many U.S.

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Background. Among patients with chronic disease, percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) tubes are a common mechanism to deliver enteral feedings to patients unable to feed by mouth. While several cases in the literature describe difficulties with and complications of the initial placement of the PEG, few studies have documented the effects of a delayed diagnosis of a misplaced tube.

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We present our experience with 30 patients on functional outcomes of patients with anoxic brain injury (ABI, n=15) due to cardiac etiologies from freestanding inpatient rehabilitation hospital. A convenience sample of patient with traumatic brain injury (TBI, n=15) with similar demographic characteristic to ABI was used for comparison on indices of activity of daily living, cognition, mobility as well as other indices of functional prognosis such as hospital length of stay, cost and discharge predisposition. No statistical significant differences were found between the two groups on the presently employed outcome measures.

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