Regional analgesia techniques for total knee replacement.

Purpose Of Review: Pain following total knee arthroplasty is a challenging task for healthcare providers. Concurrently, fast recovery and early ambulation are required to regain function and to prevent postoperative complications. Ideal postoperative analgesia provides sufficient pain relief with minimal opioid consumption and preservation of motor strength.

Drug-induced liver injury following a repeated course of ketamine treatment for chronic pain in CRPS type 1 patients: a report of 3 cases.

Studies on the efficacy of ketamine in the treatment of chronic pain indicate that prolonged or repetitive infusions are required to ensure prolonged pain relief. Few studies address ketamine-induced toxicity. Here we present data on the occurrence of ketamine-induced liver injury during repeated administrations of S(+)-ketamine for treatment of chronic pain in patients with complex regional pain syndrome type 1 as part of a larger study exploring possible time frames for ketamine re-administration.

Distribution of signs and symptoms of complex regional pain syndrome type I in patients meeting the diagnostic criteria of the International Association for the Study of Pain.

The aim of the present study was to describe the occurrence of signs and symptoms in CRPS I patients meeting the IASP (Orlando) criteria, assess the occurrence of signs and symptoms in relation to disease duration and compare these to historical data based on a different diagnostic criteria set. Six hundred and ninety-two ambulatory patients meeting the IASP criteria for CRPS I referred to the outpatient clinics of five participating centers were included in this cross-sectional study. Characteristics were recorded in a standardized fashion and categorized according to the factor structure proposed by Bruehl/Harden.

Spontaneous onset of complex regional pain syndrome.

Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) usually develops after a noxious event, but spontaneous onsets have been described in 3-11% of the cases. The existence of spontaneous-onset CRPS is highly debated and the aim of the present study was therefore to compare the phenotypic characteristics of CRPS patients with a spontaneous onset, with those of patients with a trauma-induced onset. Data of 537 CRPS patients followed up at four departments of anesthesiology were analyzed and comprised 498 (93%) patients with and 39 (7%) patients without a known eliciting event.

Ketamine produces effective and long-term pain relief in patients with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome Type 1.

Complex Regional Pain Syndrome Type 1 (CRPS-1) responds poorly to standard pain treatment. We evaluated if the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist S(+)-ketamine improves pain in CRPS-1 patients. Sixty CRPS-1 patients (48 females) with severe pain participated in a double-blind randomized placebo-controlled parallel-group trial.