View clinical trials related to Chronic Pain.
Filter by:This study will evaluate de-identified (anonymous) data in subject medical charts to review the clinical outcomes of various treatment approaches in the treatment of chronic pain.
Vitamin D3 is produced in the skin following exposure to UVB light from the sun or artificial sources, and occurs naturally in a small range of foods.More recently, several reports underlined the impact of vitamin D on the prevalence and consequences of inadequate vitamin D intake and the research supporting its benefits for alleviating chronic musculoskeletal pain and fatigue syndromes in outpatients. Experts have recommended that vitamin D inadequacy should be addressed in all patients with bone or joint pain, myalgia, fibromyalgia, or chronic fatigue syndrome. It appears that soothing the daily musculoskeletal pain by supplementation of vitamin D may be a simple, well tolerated, and cost-effective modality. Aim of study: To study the potential therapeutic effects of vitamin D supplementation on patients with persistent musculo-skeletal pain. Clinicalparameters, visual analog score,short form McGill Pain Questionnaire,patient global perceived effect, quality of life assessed by SF-36 Questionnaire and laboratory parameters, the levels of 25 OH-Vitamin D, CRP, IL-6, IL-8, TNF and prostaglandin E will be assessed.
Diffuse noxious inhibitory control In order to quantify central sensitization in chronic pain patients, the Diffuse Noxious Inhibitory Control (DNIC) model has been used frequently. DNIC relies on painful conditioning stimulation of one part of the body to inhibit pain in another part, to remove the "noise" and to focus on relevant stimuli. Earlier studies provided evidence for malfunctioning of DNIC in Fibromyalgia (FM) patients. However, the cause of this impairment is not yet elucidated, and further study is required to unravel the pathophysiology of DNIC in FM. Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis Besides neural mechanisms, also hormonal abnormalities could cause altered pain processing. Cortisol is released in answer to pain to suppress the pain. Given the evidence for hypofunction of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and the lower cortisol release in response to stressors in a proportion of FM patients and in chronic whiplash associated disorders (WAD) patients, the relation between pain and cortisol in these patients may be an interesting topic to consider. Neurocognitive performance Besides chronic pain, people with chronic WAD and FM suffer from severe concentration difficulties and decreased neurocognitive capabilities (reduced reaction time, short term memory deficits etc. The decreased neurocognitive performance is known to be related to pain severity in various chronic pain populations. It is hypothesized that malfunctioning of descending inhibitory pathways and subsequent chronic pain experience precludes optimal neurocognitive performance. Objectives The present investigation addresses the (patho)physiological mechanisms of DNIC in chronic pain populations. 1. Firstly, patients with FM, chronic WAD and healthy controls are compared regarding functioning of DNIC, cortisol levels and response and neurocognitive performance (case-control). 2. Secondly, the possible interaction between the functioning of DNIC, cortisol and neurocognitive performance is studied in patients with FM, WAD and healthy control subjects (cross-sectional). 3. Thirdly, to examine whether a fatiguing neurocognitive stressor changes DNIC and cortisol levels in patients with FM, chronic WAD or healthy sedentary control subjects.
Chronic pancreatitis is a progressive inflammatory disease resulting in slow destruction of the pancreas. This chronic inflammation can lead to chronic abdominal pain which can last for many years. Unfortunately, medical management often is of only limited benefit in treating the pain of chronic pancreatitis. Management of patients with intractable pain is difficult, often resulting in narcotic addiction. Early results in a small group of patients suggest that percutaneous radiofrequent lesioning of splanchnic nerves has good potential for pain control in a subset of patients with chronic pancreatitis. Given the simplicity of the procedure, it clearly warrants reappraisal to identify its current role in pancreatic pain management.
RATIONALE: Learning about chronic pain in women who have undergone surgery for breast cancer may help improve the quality of life for these patients and may help doctors plan the best treatment. PURPOSE: This clinical trial is studying chronic pain in women who have undergone surgery for stage I, stage II, or stage III breast cancer.
The purpose of this study is to determine whether application of low dose Delta9-Tetrahydrocannabinol can prevent the development of chronic pain in patients with acute CRPS.
The purpose of the study is to measure the efficacy of varying spinal cord stimulation frequencies and pulse-width settings on chronic pain management. The spinal cord stimulator settings that are most effective in chronic pain management hope to be revealed for the purposes of this study. In this double-blind study, both the patient and the staff will not be aware of the spinal cord stimulator settings for each patient each week. The representative that will set the settings each week will be blinded to the identity of each patient and will set the spinal cord stimulator from another room. While there are few papers that show the efficacy of spinal cord stimulation in treating chronic pain, there has yet to be a study performed that measures the role of stimulation frequency and pulse-widths. This study hopes to be the first.
In earlier work, the Sponsor developed a computer image processing system for analysis of pain diagrams from patients with chronic pain. This system was then tested in a study in over 500 chronic pain patients seen by both primary care practitioners and pain specialists. The hypothesis was that pain location would correlate with the pain type and the underlying cause of the pain. In the study, the computer analysis demonstrated clear correlations between pain diagram data and diagnosis/pain type. The present study extends these observations in a web-based setting, with a focus on the value of computer analysis of pain diagrams as diagnostic predictors.