Diffusion of pain language with affective disturbance confounds differential diagnosis.

Two experiments examined the use of pain descriptors by chronic pain patients with different medical and/or psychiatric diagnoses. Experiment I subjected patients' responses to the 20 descriptor categories on the McGill Pain Questionnaire to 3 separate multiple discriminant analyses to examine the differential diagnostic properties of pain language. None of the analyses generated a discriminant function, indicating that chronic pain patients do not use pain descriptors in a precise and systematic manner.

Pain measurement: the affective dimensional measure of the McGill pain questionnaire with a cancer pain population.

Two experiments used the McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ) to examine the affective dimension of pain in patients whose pain was secondary to malignancy. In experiment I, segregating groups of cancer patients on the basis of extreme scores (high versus low) on the MPQ failed to produce segregation on independent measures of affect and infirmity. This outcome contrasts with earlier work with chronic benign pain patients.

A statistical analysis of percutaneous radiofrequency lesions in the treatment of chronic low back pain and sciatica.

A statistical analysis of 61 consecutive patients who underwent facet denervation for chronic low back pain and sciatica showed that the average patient improved with lower pain estimates and use of narcotics, while activity levels increased. At 1-2 year follow-up there was a trend for patients to report an increase in their pain estimate although they maintained consistently high acativity levels and low analgesic intake.

Observations on fast axoplasmic transport in peripheral nerve following repetitive electrical stimulation.

In a series of 13 cats the effect of electrical stimulation of peripheral nerve on the mechanism of fast axoplasmic transport was studied. Electrical stimulation was used for varying time periods at parameters reported in the range of those used to produce electroanalgesia in man. Our results indicate that at these parameters, electrical stimulation produced no effect on this important aspect of nerve function, and, therefore, our work lends support to the safety of these devices in pain states.

The pain ward follow-up analyses.

Two-year and 3-year follow-up analyses show that those who did not receive surgery for pain relief did as well as those who did receive such surgery during their stay, both groups showing consistently lower pain levels and analgesic intake than on admission, while activity levels progressively increased. The surgical patients were more likely to be readmitted for their pain problem than were the others, whereas the others were more likely to be readmitted for other medical problems.

Transcutaneous electrical analgesia: a follow-up analysis.

One year follow-up data are analyzed for the effects of using transcutaneous neurostimulators on patients with chronic benign pain. Those who have successful surgery for pain relief have lower pain and analgesic intake levels than those who supplement their surgery with neurostimulation. Those who do not receive surgery for pain but use neurostimulators have greatly increased activity levels than those who do not use these devices.