View clinical trials related to Pain.
Filter by:The purpose of the study is to test auricular (ear) acupuncture for the acute management of patient pain in the Emergency Department as an alternative and adjunct to standard medical treatment. Currently, physicians who practice medicine here in the United States only have pharmacological intervention at their disposal as the only available treatment tool they have for the treatment and management of pain, and as a result, painkiller misuse, overdose, and death has become the leading health epidemic in America. American healthcare is in desperate need of alternative and safer ways to prevent prescription painkiller overdoses and to better manage pain. If prescription painkiller dependencies can be avoided at the source, potentially many lives and healthcare dollars can be saved. Acupuncture is an alternative treatment that has been effectively used to treat pain for thousands of years in countries around the world. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) have stated that acupuncture is a safe and effective treatment for the management of pain. Supported by many studies illustrating seventy-five to ninety-nine percent effectiveness in treating pain with an instantaneous drop in pain by twenty-five to eighty percent, acupuncture appears to be the safest and most effective option available to manage pain syndromes in the emergency department. Auricular acupuncture has demonstrated beneficial effects to reduce acute and chronic pain intensity. Specifically, for the thesis of this clinical trial, the investigators hypothesize that auricular acupuncture can be an effective alternative and/or adjunct treatment tool in the civilian emergency department for the acute management of pain. In order to test the safety and efficacy of using auricular acupuncture in the emergency department, people presenting to the emergency department with pain who are willing to participate in the study will be randomized into three separate groups: 1. Standard medical group (tape on ear + standard medical drug) 2. Standard medical group plus auricular acupuncture (acupuncture + standard medical drug) 3. Auricular acupuncture group (acupuncture + placebo pill) The design of these groups will allow the investigators to best test the efficacy of auricular acupuncture versus the placebo effect and standard medical care as well as an adjunct to standard medical care. To accomplish the objective of this proposal, the investigators will pursue the following specific aims: Specific Aim 1: To prove the efficacy of auricular acupuncture over a placebo group in the management of pain syndromes. By having the acupuncture group and sham acupuncture group, the investigators will be able to effectively compare the difference in pain levels with a placebo-group. Specific Aim 2: To prove that auricular acupuncture is an effective alternative and/or adjunct to standard medical care in the Emergency Department. By testing the efficacy of acupuncture in conjunction with standard medical treatment, the investigators expect to see a potentiation of analgesic effects, and this will be noted by an increased reduction in pain between the standard medical plus acupuncture group versus the standard group and acupuncture group. Specific Aim 3: To prove that auricular acupuncture as an effective pain management alternative that decreases short-term prescription painkiller dependency. Through a series of follow up questionnaires and a medication diary that the investigators will give to the patient prior to discharge, the investigators will track the patient's need and use of additional pain medications post treatment. These surveys will give a good indication as to the effectiveness of auricular acupuncture to reduce a patient's dependency on painkiller drugs in the short-term setting.
To determine whether real TMS is more effective than sham TMS in reducing pain following surgery
This study is looking at a novel therapy of numbing medication injected directly around the fracture site. The purpose of this study is to determine if the study medication, EXPAREL®, is a viable alternative to current therapies for rib fractures.
Ketamine is an IV anesthetic with non-opioid analgesic properties that has been shown to reduce pain while also decreasing intraoperative and postoperative opioid requirements when used in subanesthetic doses after a variety of surgical procedures.1 It is a non-competitive antagonist of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors, and by this mechanism ketamine is believed to block the development of central sensitization and wind-up phenomenon,2,3 which may be helpful in preventing acute and chronic pain after repetitive insults. In a systematic review of ketamine as an adjuvant to opioid analgesia, low-dose ketamine was found to be a useful addition to standard postoperative pain management practice with opioids in 54% of studies.1 The studies that did not show a significant effect were in patient populations with low opioid requirements. Therefore, it has been suggested that future clinical trials be focused on patient populations with significant post-operative pain, such as spine surgery and major orthopedic surgery not amenable to regional analgesia, and postoperative pain in patients on chronic preoperative opioid therapy.1 There are few studies examining outcomes after ketamine in the perioperative period after spine surgery. Loftus et al randomized patients with a history of chronic preoperative opioid use (i.e., daily opiate use for at least 6 weeks) to intraoperative ketamine versus placebo and found a 30% reduction in morphine consumption at 48 hours and an approximately 25% reduction in visual analog scale (VAS) pain score in the post anesthesia care unit and at 6 weeks.4 Although this study provided evidence that there may be reduction in long-term postoperative pain, additional studies are needed to provide evidence that this effect is sustained beyond the 6-week period. We are interested in examining ketamine more closely in spine surgery because this patient population experiences significant postoperative pain that may be difficult to control due to preoperative opioid use (i.e., opioid tolerance). The investigators chose to study ACDF patients specifically because it is a common spine procedure throughout the United States and the patients have significant opioid requirements postoperatively. In a study examining the effects of the low dose ketamine for postoperative IV PCA fentanyl after cervical and lumbar surgery, patients in the placebo group (and thus only receiving fentanyl PCA) reported mean VAS scores of 4-5 with movement while receiving opioids.5 Further, while previous studies have shown an opioid-sparing effect of ketamine as measured by opioid consumption and a decrease in pain as measured by VAS scores, no study to our knowledge has examined quality of recovery after intraoperative ketamine infusion. The Quality of recovery (QoR-40) score was developed by Myles et al to assess quality of recovery after anesthesia based on forty questions in five dimensions,6 and this score has been shown to be a reliable and valid outcome for patients undergoing both spine and cranial surgery.7 QoR-40 is also of interest because it should be able to provide a global assessment of the possible benefit or harm of using ketamine in patients by simultaneously characterizing the detrimental side effects as well as the positive benefits of ketamine when used as an infusion at subanesthetic levels (studies thus far have shown that there are minimal side effects such as hallucinations).1,4 Significance: Previous studies have shown an opioid-sparing effect of ketamine, however further research is warranted in patients whose pain may be difficult to control and whether this effect is sustained. ACDF patients experience significant pain post-operatively, and ketamine may improve their quality of recovery due to its opioid-sparing effects and prevention of chronic pain. Further, patient centered outcomes as measured by the QoR-40 have not been reported in the literature when ketamine, or other opioid sparing anesthetics, have been administered. This study will not only determine if the "moderate" dose of ketamine is beneficial or detrimental to the recovery of patients but also whether it can improve long term patient function, presumably by decreasing central pain sensitization. In addition, this study will set the stage for further RCT's examining other analgesic strategies in cervical spine surgery patients (i.e., intraoperative lidocaine infusions, volatile anesthetic vs. propofol as the primary hypnotic, COX-2 inhibitors, pregabalin, etc.). The overall goal would be to develop a multi-faceted regimen that decreases the postoperative inpatient opioid requirements of these patients and may facilitate long term recovery. The research questions:Does ketamine improve the quality of recovery at 24 hours after anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF)? The hypothesis: the investigators hypothesize that ketamine will improve the quality of recovery after ACDF surgery
Burn-related pain is severe and often difficult to manage. Healthcare workers struggle with keeping burn patients comfortable, especially when these patients undergo dressing changes of their burn wounds of their skin since these procedures often cause severe pain. Patients with burn wounds frequently require high doses of opioids (narcotics) and calming (anxiolytic) agents to the extent that clinicians must weigh the risks associated with these doses against achieving adequate analgesia and comfort. The biggest risk is over-sedation to cause breathing troubles. Inadequate pain control during these procedures heightens pain perception, anxiety, and fear surrounding the experience and may lead to patients experiencing additional psychological disorders like depression, acute stress disorder (ASD), and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Therefore, therapeutic options for better management of pain and anxiety during these procedures need to be identified. This study will address whether the addition of ketamine during dressing changes improves patients' pain control and comfort and whether this leads to favorable psychological outcomes. The study is designed to compare ketamine with placebo when they are added to usual care (opioids and anxiolytics) during dressing changes. The main outcomes of the study will be the amount of opioid and anxiolytic agents each group receives during their procedure; the presence of pain-related anxiety shortly after the procedures; blood markers of stress during the procedures; and the presence of depression, anxiety and stress disorders prior to discharge. This study will assess whether the early administration of ketamine reduces pain and anxiety to prevent the need for high doses of opioids and anxiolytics. A total of 30 patients will be enrolled.
Introduction: Opioids, such as morphine, act at receptors in the central nervous system, but many studies have suggested direct action peripherally on opioid receptors in sensory neurons terminals, melanocytes, keratinocytes and fibroblasts. These receptors are stimulated when occurs inflammatory processes. Hypothesis: Treatment with topical morphine 0.1% applied 30 minutes before an invasive procedure, decreases pain in children. Method: A randomised double-blind parallel study to evaluate the effect of topical application of a 0.1% morphine gel in patients undergo a procedure. 22 patients in each group will be included. Randomly assigned to either the morphine gel or a placebo hydrogel, it will be applied 30 minutes before the procedure and the first day every 4 hours. General basic sedation and systemic analgesia will give for all the patients. Efficacy of treatment will be measured with "Face, Legs, Activity, Cry, Consolability scale" (FLACC scale).
Postoperative pain control is required after major abdominal surgery, including laparoscopic colorectal surgery. Intravenous oxycodone is widely used for postoperative acute pain control mainly in Europe. The aim of this study is to evaluate the optimal dose of intravenous oxycodone for pain control after laparoscopic colorectal surgery in Korean.
Will patients that receive injections of Marcaine into the uterine nerve via the uterosacral ligaments experience less pain postoperatively, need less narcotic pain medication and return to activities of daily living sooner.
The TQL block may prove a valuable method for treating postoperative pain following scopic removal of the gall bladder. The trial will compare active TQL block versus placebo TQL block after said operation. The hypothesis is that active TQL block significantly will reduce postoperative pain following scopic removal of the gall bladder compared with placebo TQL block.
The investigators would like to determine if there is a difference in patient satisfaction among patients who have puzzling pain conditions and receive one evaluation from their treating physician, and those that receive an evaluation from their treating physician and from a group of consulting physicians by video. The investigators expect to enroll 128 patients at Massachusetts General Hospital.