A Comprehensive Algorithm for Management of Neuropathic Pain.

Background: The objective of this review was to merge current treatment guidelines and best practice recommendations for management of neuropathic pain into a comprehensive algorithm for primary physicians. The algorithm covers assessment, multidisciplinary conservative care, nonopioid pharmacological management, interventional therapies, neurostimulation, low-dose opioid treatment, and targeted drug delivery therapy.

Methods: Available literature was identified through a search of the US National Library of Medicine's Medline database, PubMed.

Neuromodulation of the Dorsal Root Ganglion for Chronic Postsurgical Pain.

Objective: The objective of this study is to review the available evidence for dorsal root ganglion (DRG) stimulation for the treatment of complex regional pain syndrome type II (CRPS II; peripheral causalgia) associated with chronic neuropathic postsurgical pain (NPP).

Design: Available literature was identified through a search of the US National Library of Medicine's Medline database, PubMed.gov.

Cooled Radiofrequency Neurotomy of the Articular Sensory Branches of the Obturator and Femoral Nerves - Combined Approach Using Fluoroscopy and Ultrasound Guidance: Technical Report, and Observational Study on Safety and Efficacy.

Background: Chronic hip joint pain is a common condition with an estimated prevalence of 7% in men and 10% in women, in a population sample aged over 45. Conservative treatment can include physical therapy, weight loss, a variety of pharmacologic agents ranging from nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) to opioids, and intraarticular injections with various substances. Definitive treatment of hip pain, however, has primarily centered on hip arthroplasty.

Interventional Pain Management Approaches for Control of Chronic Pancreatic Pain.

Treatment of persistent pain from chronic pancreatitis historically was difficult to treat. For years, focus was on opioid and other analgesics and psychological treatments. Recent studies provided evidence for decrease in analgesic intake and pain scores after properly conducted sympathetic blocks (celiac, splanchnic nerve blocks).

Ketorolac tromethamine - routes and clinical implications.

Opioids have long been used for analgesic purposes for a wide range of procedures. However, the binding of these drugs to opiate receptors has created various challenges to the clinician due to unfavorable side effect profiles and the potential for tolerance and abuse. In 1989, ketorolac became an approved nonsteroidal inflammatory drug (NSAID) for injectable use as an analgesic.

Clinical applications of oxymorphone.

Oxymorphone (14-hydroxydihydromorphinone), a pyridine ring unsubstituted pyridomorphinan, a semisynthetic opioid analgesic derived from thebaine, first developed in the year 1914 and has been available as oxymorphone hydrochloride parenteral forms in the United States since 1959, when the US Food and Drug Administration approved it. Over the years, it has been used for the alleviation of moderate-to-severe pain. Pharmacological considerations, new and traditional formulations, clinical indications, and recent study populations are examined in this review.

Prolonged paroxysmal sympathetic storming associated with spontaneous subarachnoid hemorrhage.

Paroxysmal sympathetic storming (PSS) is a rare disorder characterized by acute onset of nonstimulated tachycardia, hypertension, tachypnea, hyperthermia, external posturing, and diaphoresis. It is most frequently associated with severe traumatic brain injuries and has been reported in intracranial tumors, hydrocephalous, severe hypoxic brain injury, and intracerebral hemorrhage. Although excessive release of catecholamine and therefore increased sympathetic activities have been reported in subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), there is no descriptive report of PSS primarily caused by spontaneous SAH up to date.