Cannabinoids as a Potential Alternative to Opioids in the Management of Various Pain Subtypes: Benefits, Limitations, and Risks.

Introduction: Pain is a global phenomenon encompassing many subtypes that include neuropathic, musculoskeletal, acute postoperative, cancer, and geriatric pain. Traditionally, opioids have been a mainstay pharmacological agent for managing many types of pain. However, opioids have been a subject of controversy with increased addiction, fatality rates, and cost burden on the US healthcare system.

Radiofrequency Ablation for Craniofacial Pain Syndromes.

Headache disorders and trigeminal neuralgia are common conditions representing the types of craniofacial pain syndrome that can significantly impact quality of life. Many cases are refractory to traditional pharmacologic treatments, whether oral or intravenous. Radiofrequency ablation has been increasingly used as a tool to treat resistant, chronic pain of both of these disorders.

Preliminary effects of low-intensity focused ultrasound treatment program for cancer-related neuropathic pain.

To evaluate the effectiveness of low-intensity focused ultrasound (LIFU) therapy in the management of cancer-related neuropathic pain (CNP). A retrospective review with 22 patients with CNP treated with LIFU therapy (frequency 3 Hz, 3 W/cm, pulse mode duty cycle 50%) was conducted. Out of the 22 patients, 15 had CNP secondary to chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy.

Interventional Therapies for Pain in Cancer Patients: a Narrative Review.

Purpose Of Review: Pain is a prevalent symptom in the lives of patients with cancer. In light of the ongoing opioid epidemic and increasing awareness of the potential for opioid abuse and addiction, clinicians are progressively turning to interventional therapies. This article reviews the interventional techniques available to mitigate the debilitating effects that untreated or poorly treated pain have in this population.

Hippocampal magnetization transfer ratio at 3T: validation of automated postprocessing and comparison of quantification metrics.

Background: To investigate the reliability of a novel magnetization transfer ratio (MTR) postprocessing technique for the hippocampus using histogram analysis, and compare results to more established volumetric measurements. This study is conducted in healthy volunteers as a precursor to future applications regarding progressive neurologic diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease.

Methods: Eight healthy subjects were scanned twice with interval of 1 week using quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Comprehensive brain analysis with automated high-resolution magnetization transfer measurements.

Purpose: To enhance the reliability and spatial resolution of magnetization transfer ratio (MTR) measurements for interrogation of subcortical brain regions with an automated volume of interest (VOI) approach.

Materials And Methods: A 3D magnetization transfer (MT) sequence was acquired using a scan-rescan imaging protocol in nine healthy volunteers. VOI definition masks for the MTR measurements were generated using FreeSurfer and compared to a manual region of interest (ROI) approach.

Sub-millimeter isotropic MRI for segmentation of subcortical brain regions and brain visualization.

Purpose: To evaluate a rapid sub-millimeter isotropic spoiled gradient-echo (nonselective SPGR) to facilitate the brain subcortical segmentation and the visualization of brain volume compared with the commonly accepted inversion recovery-prepared SPGR (SPGR-IR) technique.

Materials And Methods: The feasibility of the nonselective SPGR was evaluated for two segmentation algorithms. FAST was used to segment the brain into constituent tissue classes (white matter, gray matter, cerebrospinal fluid) and FreeSurfer was used to segment specific subcortical structures (hippocampus, caudate, putamen, and thalamus).

Statistical evaluations of the reproducibility and reliability of 3-tesla high resolution magnetization transfer brain images: a pilot study on healthy subjects.

Magnetization transfer imaging (MT) may have considerable promise for early detection and monitoring of subtle brain changes before they are apparent on conventional magnetic resonance images. At 3 Tesla (T), MT affords higher resolution and increased tissue contrast associated with macromolecules. The reliability and reproducibility of a new high-resolution MT strategy were assessed in brain images acquired from 9 healthy subjects.