[Cervical lymphoadenopathy due to Pseudomonas aeruginosa following mesotherapy]. / Linfoadenopatia cervicale da Pseudomonas aeruginosa dopo trattamento con mesoterapia.

Mesotherapy is a treatment method devised for controlling several diseases by means of subcutaneous microinjections given at or around the affected areas at short time intervals. It is used to treat a variety of medical conditions, amongst which all orthopaedic diseases and rheumatic pain. Mesotherapy is especially indicated for neck pain. The mechanism of action is twofold: a pharmacological effect due to the drug administered, and a reflexogenic effect, the skin containing many nerve endings that are sensitive to the mechanical action of the needle. Although this therapy is safe, like any other medical intervention it cannot be considered free of complications that may occur, such as allergies, haematomas, bruising, wheals, granulomas and telangiectasias. Infective complications are also possible, due to pathogenic bacteria that are inoculated through contamination of products, of the materials used for the procedure or even from germs on the skin. We present the case of a patient who had cervical lymphadenopathy due to Pseudomonas aeruginosa after mesotherapy treatment for neck pain.

[Post-surgical neuropathic pain]. / Dolore neuropatico post-chirurgico.

The traumatic lesions during surgical interventions often turn into a persistent pain. Pain persists in the location of surgical intervention for a long time, beyond the usual course of natural healing of an acute pain and it is different from that suffered preoperatively. It is usually a chronic pain and it is associated to lesions of the central or peripheral nervous system. Pain is usually described as burning or tingling, or electric shock-like; it can be continuous or parossistic, often associated to paraesthesia, iperalgesia and allodinya. If circumstances preclude the surgical revision, the treatment of post-surgical neuropathic pain is based on drugs, according to the guidelines. The drugs of choice are the tricyclic antidepressants, the serotonin and adrenaline re-uptake selective inhibitors (SSRI), local antiepileptics of new generation (gabapentin, pregabalin) and topical anaesthetics. Drugs of second line are: opioid analgesics, tramadol; drugs of third line are: mexiletine, antagonist of NMDA receptor and capsaicine. The post-surgical neuropathic pain is often resistant to the pharmacologic treatment; for this reason the spinal cord neuromodulation can be applied only after careful selection of the patients according to the international guidelines. The incidence of post-surgical neuropathic pain in the Pain Units is approximately 20% of the patients admitted to hospital. Therefore it is necessary a greater attention for the post-surgical analgesia, adopting appropriate surgical techniques in order to avoid the onset of the post-surgical neuropathic pain.

[Cannabinoids in the control of pain]. / I cannabinoidi nella terapia del dolore.

Hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) has been used since remotes ages as a herbal remedy. Only recently the medical community highlighted the pharmacological scientific bases of its effects. The most important active principle, Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, was identified in the second half of the last century, and subsequently two receptors were identified and cloned: CB1 that is primarily present in the central nervous system, and CB2 that is present on the cells of the immune system. Endogenous ligands, called endocannabinoids, were characterized. The anandamide was the first one to be discovered. The effectiveness of the cannabinoids in the treatment of nausea and vomit due to anti-neoplastic chemotherapy and in the wasting-syndrome during AIDS is recognized. Moreover, the cannabinoids are analgesic, and their activity is comparable to the weak opioids. Furthermore, parallels exist between opioid and cannabinoid receptors, and evidence is accumulating that the two systems sometimes may operate synergistically. The interest of the pharmaceutical companies led to the production of various drugs, whether synthetic or natural derived. The good ratio between the polyunsatured fatty acids omega-3 and omega-6 of the oil of Cannabis seeds led to reduction of the phlogosis and an improvement of the pain symptoms in patients with chronic musculo-skeletal inflammation.

[Percutaneous electrical nerve stimulation of peripheral nerve for the intractable occipital neuralgia]. / Neurostimolazione elettrica subcutanea del nervo periferico utilizzata nel controllo della nevralgia occipitale refrattaria.

UNLABELLED: Occipital neuralgia is characterized by pain paroxysm occurring within distribution of the greater or lesser occipital nerves. The pain may radiates from the rear head toward the ipso-lateral frontal or retro-orbital regions of head. Though known causes include head injuries, direct occipital nerve trauma, neuroma formation or upper cervical root compression, most people have no demonstrable lesion. METHOD AND MATERIALS: A sample of 8 patients (5 females, 3 males) aging 63,5 years on the average with occipital neuralgia has been recruited. The occipital neuralgic pain had presented since 4, 6 years and they had been treated by pharmacological therapy without benefit. Some result has been obtained by blocking of the grand occipital nerve so that the patients seemed to be suitable for subcutaneous peripheral neurostimulation. The pain was evaluated by VAS and SVR scales before treatment (TO) and after three and twelve months (T1, T2). RESULTS: During the follow up period 7 patients have been monitored for a whole year while one patient was followed only for 3 months in that some complications have presented. In the other 7 patients pain paroxysms have interrupted and trigger point disappeared with a VAS and SVR reduction of about 71% and 60%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Our experience demonstrates a sound efficacy of such a technique for patients having occipital neuralgia resistant to pharmacological therapies even if action mechanisms have not yet clearly explained. Some hypothesis exist and we think it might negatively affect the neurogenic inflammation that surely acts in pain maintaining.

Continuous intrathecal morphine infusion in patients with vertebral fractures due to osteoporosis.

OBJECTIVES: Vertebral fractures are the most common consequences of severe osteoporosis. The chronic pain from collapse of osteoporotic vertebrae affects quality of life (QOL) and autonomy of patients. The management of pain with oral or transdermal opiates can cause severe side effects. Continuous intrathecal administration of morphine via an implantable pump might represent an alternative therapy to conventional oral or transdermal administration of opioids and has some advantages and disadvantages for pain relief and improvement in QOL when compared with conventional opioid delivery. It is our objective to report our experience using intrathecal delivery of analgesics in a population of patients with refractory pain due to vertebral fractures. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In 24 patients, refractory to conventional delivery of opioids, we used intrathecal analgesic therapy. To test for efficacy and improvement in QOL, we administered the visual analog scale for pain and the Questionnaire of the European Foundation of Osteoporosis (QUALEFFO). Before patients were selected for pump implantation, an intraspinal drug delivery trial was performed to monitor side effects and responses to intrathecal therapy. RESULTS: Significant pain relief was obtained in all implanted patients. Using the QUALEFFO, we observed significant improvement of all variables such as quality of daily life, domestic work, ambulation, and perception of health status, before and after 1 year after pump implantation. With intrathecal morphine infusion, none of the 24 patients required additional systemic analgesic medication. The mean morphine dose during the spinal trial was 11.28 mg/d, 7.92 mg/d at pump implantation, and 16.32 mg/d at 1-year follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: Our results show that intrathecal administration of morphine efficiently relieves the symptoms of pain and improves QOL. Continuous intrathecal administration of morphine appears to be an alternative therapy to conventional analgesic drug delivery and has advantages in those patients who have severe side effects with systemic administration of analgesics.

Auricular acupuncture to resolve the exacerbations in ocular myasthenia--a case report.

Ocular myasthenia is a neuromuscular autoimmune disorder in which the clinical symptoms are restricted to the external ocular muscles with either ptosis or diplopia, or both. The condition may follow a relapsing and remitting course. Conventional therapy consists of anticholinergic drugs, corticosteroids and immunosuppressants. We report a case in which auricular acupuncture was used as an adjunct to pharmacological treatment. The time course of the response suggests that acupuncture appeared to help resolve the current relapse.

[Management of pain from osteoporotic vertebral fractures with continuous intrathecal administration of morphine]. / Trattamento del dolore cronico benigno da crollo vertebrale osteoporotico con infusione continua intratecale di morfina.

UNLABELLED: Vertebral fractures are the most common consequences of severe osteoporosis. The chronic pain from collapse of osteoporotic vertebrae affects quality of life and autonomy of patients. The management of pain with oral or transdermal opiates can cause severe side-effects. Continuous intrathecal administration of morphine with an implantable pump represents a good alternative therapy and has advantages in pain relief and quality of life. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We report our experience in the treatment of refractory chronic pain due to vertebral fractures using pumps for intrathecal infusion of morphine in 24 patients. We administered the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and the Quality of Life Questionnaire of the European Foundation of Osteoporosis (QUALEFFO). RESULTS: A significant pain relief was obtained in all implanted patients. Using the QUALEFFO we observed significant improvements of all variables such as QDL (quality of life), DW (domestic work), ambulation and PHS (perception of health status), before and after 1 year from pump implantation. With intrathecal morphine infusion none of the patients required additional systemic analgesics. CONCLUSIONS: Our results show that intrathecal administration of morphine efficiently relieves the symptoms of pain and improve the quality of life. Continuous intrathecal administration of morphine represents a good alternative therapy and has advantages in those patients who suffer from severe side-effects with systemic administration.

The management of pain from collapse of osteoporotic vertebrae with continuous intrathecal morphine infusion.

Objectives. Vertebral fractures are the most common consequences of severe osteoporosis. The chronic pain from collapse of osteoporotic vertebrae affects quality of life (QoL) and autonomy of patients. The management of pain with oral or transdermal opiates can cause severe side-effects. Continuous intrathecal administration of morphine through an implantable pump might represent an alternative therapy to conventional oral or transdermal administration of opioids and has some advantages and disadvantages for pain relief and improvement in QoL when compared to conventional opioid delivery. It is our objective to report our experience using intrathecal delivery of analgesics in a population of patients with refractory pain due to vertebral fractures. Materials and Methods. In 24 patients, refractory to conventional delivery of opioids, we used intrathecal analgesic therapy. To test for efficacy and improvement in QoL, we administered the visual analog scale (VAS) for pain and the Quality of Life Questionnaire of the European Foundation for Osteoporosis (QUALEFFO). Before patients were selected for pump implantation, an intraspinal drug delivery trial was performed to monitor side-effects and responses to intrathecal therapy. Results. Significant pain relief was obtained in all implanted patients. Using the QUALEFFO, we observed significant improvement of all variables such as QDL (quality of daily life), DW (domestic work), ambulation, and PHS (perception of health status), before and after one year after pump implantation. With intrathecal morphine infusion, none of the 24 patients required additional systemic analgesic medication. The mean morphine dose during the spinal trial was 11.28 mg/day, 7.92 mg/day at pump implantation, and 16.32 mg/day at one-year follow-up. Conclusions. Our results show that intrathecal administration of morphine efficiently relieves the symptoms of pain and improves QoL. Continuous intrathecal administration of morphine appears to be an alternative therapy to conventional analgesic drug delivery and has advantages in those patients who have severe side-effects with systemic administration of analgesics.