Tramadol SR in arthrosic and neuropathic pain.

Background: Chronic pain requires adequate treatment to control the severity of pain, allowing it to be well tolerated for the long term. Slow release formulations represent a useful method for the treatment of lasting pain because they allow for more simple pain management. The aim of this study was to verify the efficacy and tolerability of tramadol SR for the treatment of two of the most common kinds of chronic pain: arthrosic and neuropathic pain.

Influence of inhalational, neuroleptic and local anaesthesia on lymphocyte subset distribution.

We previously demonstrated that anaesthetics affect leukocyte response by inhibiting lymphocyte capping and metabolism and the phagocytic activity of neutrophils in some experimental models. In the present study, we investigated the effects of the clinical use of three different types of anaesthesia on lymphocyte subset distribution and activity: inhalational anaesthesia (isoflurane), a neuroleptoanalgesia, or local anaesthesia was used in patients submitted to the same operation (hysterectomy). At time 0 (before administering the anaesthesia) and at 10 min and 48 h from the start of the operation, heparinized blood was obtained from each of the 30 patients studied; three lymphocyte subpopulations were isolated (CD4+, CD8+ and CD19+).