[Neurological or interdisciplinary outpatient pain treatment: comparison of treatment success and satisfaction].

The aim of this study was to compare the satisfaction and success of treatment for pain patients who were interdisciplinary (anaesthesiological, psychosomatic, neurological, orthopedic) treated or underwent neurological care alone. We selected 183 patients who were treated in our neurological clinic and in our interdisciplinary pain management center (IST). Of these, 142 patients having polyneuropathy, headache or muskuloskelettal pain were included in the final analysis.

Assessing somatic, psychosocial, and spiritual distress of patients with advanced cancer: development of the Advanced Cancer Patients' Distress Scale.

Objective: For adequate distress assessment in palliative care, we developed a screening evaluation tool.

Methods: Proven methods of scale construction led to a 53-item pilot form of the Advanced Cancer Patients' Distress Scale (ACPDS). We used Hornheide Questionnaire (HQ), Palliative Outcome Scale (POS), and Minimal Documentation System (MIDOS) for validation.

[Determinants of quality of life in patients with somatoform disorders with pain as main symptom - the case for differentiating subgroups].

Objectives: What impact do the degree of somatization and the presence of a comorbid psychological disorder have on health-related quality of life in patients with pain-dominated somatoform disorders?

Methods: 282 consecutive patients (57.6 %) from a total population of N=490 patients fulfilling the criteria of somatoform pain disorders were included in the study following a thorough interdisciplinary diagnostic process at a German university hospital. Structured interviews (SKIDI and SKID-II) to assess comorbid psychological disorders as well as a structured biographical interview to assess chronification factors were conducted.

Revised definition of neuropathic pain and its grading system: an open case series illustrating its use in clinical practice.

The definition of neuropathic pain has recently been revised by an expert committee of the Neuropathic Pain Special Interest Group of the International Association for the Study of Pain (NeuPSIG) as "pain arising as direct consequence of a lesion or disease affecting the somatosensory system," and a grading system of "definite," "probable," and "possible" neuropathic pain has been introduced. This open case series of 5 outpatients (3 men, 2 women; mean age 48 +/- 12 years) demonstrates how the grading system can be applied, in combination with appropriate confirmatory testing, to diagnosis neuropathic conditions in clinical practice. The proposed grading system includes a dynamic algorithm that enhances the physician's ability to determine with a greater level of certainty whether a pain condition is neuropathic.

[Diagnostic subgroups and psychosocial characteristics in chronic non-malignant pain patients referred to an out-patient pain center].

The purpose of this study is to describe an out-patient Pain Center population on the basis of IASP Classification of Chronic Pain. Furthermore, the study investigates the relationship between diagnostic subgroups of chronic non-malignant pain patients and psychosocial parameters. The average age of the patients was 42 and the mean age at the onset of pain was 34.