Background: Stimuli arousing sympathetic activity can increase ratings of clinical pain in patients with complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS).
Objective: To determine whether the increase in pain is mediated by peripheral sympathetic activity.
Methods: The effect of sympathetic ganglion blockade on pain evoked by a startle stimulus and cooling the forehead was investigated in 36 CRPS patients.
Results: Loss of vasoconstrictor reflexes and warming of the limb indicated that sympathetic blockade was effective in 26 cases. Before sympathetic blockade, pain increased in 12 of these 26 patients when they were startled. Pain increased in seven of the 12 patients and in another five cases when their forehead was cooled. As expected, pain that increased during sympathetic arousal generally subsided in patients with signs of sympathetic blockade. However, pain still increased in three of 12 of patients after the startle stimulus and in six of 12 of patients during forehead cooling, despite indisputable sympathetic blockade.
Conclusions: These findings suggest that stimuli arousing sympathetic activity act by a central process to exacerbate pain in some patients, independent of the peripheral sympathetic nervous system. This may account for the lack of effect of peripheral sympathetic blockade on pain in some CRPS patients.
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Front Physiol
January 2025
Susan Samueli Integrative Health Institute and Department of Medicine, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, United States.
Stellate ganglion blockade (SGB) is a practical approach to managing many clinical disorders. Ultrasound-guided SGB is currently adopted as a more effective and safer method in humans. Developing this technique in rats would facilitate further study of SGB application.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDiscov Med
January 2025
Department of Pharmacology "Otto Orsingher", Institute of Experimental Pharmacology of Córdoba (IFEC-CONICET), Faculty of Chemical Sciences, National University of Córdoba, X5000 Córdoba, Argentina.
Background: Angiotensin II, is critical in regulating the sympathetic and neuroendocrine systems through angiotensin II type 1 receptors (AT-R). Angiotensin II intracerebral administration increases water and sodium intake, as well as renal sodium excretion. Previously, our group has shown that AT-R is involved in behavioral and neurochemical sensitization induced by amphetamine.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAm J Emerg Med
January 2025
Department of Emergency Medicine, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Background: Gastrointestinal symptoms of acute opioid withdrawal are distressing for patients and are often difficult to manage with conventional therapies. Insufficiently managed opioid withdrawal symptoms may lead patients to leave against medical advice, which can increase their risk of relapse and result in poor outcomes from untreated conditions. We assessed the impact of an erector spinae plane block on the acute gastrointestinal symptoms of opioid withdrawal.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFClin Auton Res
January 2025
Department of Health and Kinesiology, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA.
Purpose: Resting beat-to-beat blood pressure variability is a strong predictor of cardiovascular events and mortality. However, its underlying mechanisms remain incompletely understood. Given that the sympathetic nervous system plays a pivotal role in cardiovascular regulation, we hypothesized that alpha-1 adrenergic receptors (the main sympathetic receptor controlling peripheral vasoconstriction) may contribute to resting beat-to-beat blood pressure variability.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBMC Anesthesiol
December 2024
Department of Anesthesiology and Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital, Jiangxi Medical College, Nanchang University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, 330001, China.
Objective: This study aimed to observe the impact of Tthoracic paravertebral nerve blockade(TPVB) at left T7 level on the α7nAChR-dependent cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway in patients undergoing thoracoscopic lobectomy.
Methods: Scheduled thoracoscopic lung surgery patients at the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University from August to September 2023 were divided into two groups according to the surgical site. The experimental group underwent left T7 paravertebral nerve blockade (LTPVB group), while the control group underwent right T7 paravertebral nerve blockade (RTPVB group).
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