A DEMONSTRATION OF A PRESURGICAL BEHAVIORAL MEDICINE EVALUATION FOR CATEGORIZING PATIENTS FOR IMPLANTABLE THERAPIES: A PRELIMINARY STUDY.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of the current study was to evaluate the potential efficacy of a presurgical behavioral medicine evaluation (PBME) screening algorithm with patients undergoing evaluation for implantable pain management devices. METHODS: Sixty patients were evaluated for prognostic recommendations regarding outcomes from surgery for spinal cord stimulators and intrathecal pumps. Diagnostic interviews, review of medical charts, and psychosocial and functional measures were used in the initial evaluation. RESULTS: Patients were classified into one of four prognostic groups, from low to increasing risks: Green, Yellow-I, Yellow-II, and Red. The Green group showed the most positive biopsychosocial profile, while the Red groups showed the worst profiles. CONCLUSIONS: This preliminary study suggests that the PBME algorithm may be an effective method for categorizing patients into prognostic groups. Psychological and adverse clinical features appear to have the most power in the classification of such patients.

Cost-effectiveness of treatments for temporomandibular disorders: biopsychosocial intervention versus treatment as usual.

BACKGROUND: The authors conducted a randomized clinical trial to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of a biopsychosocial intervention with patients who are at high risk (HR) of progressing from acute to chronic TMD-related pain. METHODS: The authors classified 96 patients with acute TMD (less than six months' duration) as HR according to a predictive algorithm and randomized them into an early intervention (EI) or a nonintervention (NI) group. The NI group received a biopsychosocial treatment that included cognitive behavioral skills training and biofeedback. Both groups were followed up for one year. The authors collected TMD cost data throughout the year. RESULTS: The authors found that the EI group spent significantly fewer jaw-related health care dollars, relative to the NI group, from intake to the one-year follow-up. CONCLUSION AND CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: The reduced jaw-related health care expenditures for patients in the EI group compared with expenditures for patients in the NI group at one year suggest that an early biopsychosocial intervention is a cost-effective measure in dealing with often unnecessarily costly TMD-related pain.

A cost-utility analysis of chronic spinal pain treatment outcomes: converting SF-36 data into quality-adjusted life years.

OBJECTIVES: The present retrospective case review study sought to analyze the cost-utility, expressed in cost/quality-adjusted life years (QALY), of current chronic spinal pain treatments. In addition, it expands upon previously published data evaluating the efficacy of interdisciplinary pain management in relation to medication management. METHODS: A recently developed algorithm was used to calculate QALYs using SF-36, v. 1 responses for 121 patients receiving treatment for chronic spinal pain at a pain rehabilitation center. Treatment groups evaluated were: (1) interdisciplinary program completers who received medication management and supplementary anesthetic procedures; (2) interdisciplinary program completers receiving medication management but not anesthetic procedures; (3) patients receiving medication management alone; and (4) patients receiving medication management with supplemental anesthetic procedures. Assessments were conducted at pretreatment and 6 months after the initiation of treatment. RESULTS: One-way analyses of covariance indicated that patients who participated in an interdisciplinary pain management program, which included medication management, psychotherapy, group education, and physical therapy, reported significantly less impairment in daily activities of living, less subjective experience of pain, and a higher quality of life and more preferred health state at the completion of their treatment phase, relative to patients receiving medication with or without anesthetic procedures. In addition, improvements in all outcome measures between pretreatment and posttreatment were significantly greater for those patients completing the interdisciplinary component of treatment. Cost-utility analyses revealed that the interdisciplinary treatment alone group was cost-saving, relative to the medication and procedures alternative, suggesting the former modality was both less costly and more effective than the latter. DISCUSSION: Average cost-utility ratios for both interdisciplinary treatment groups, ranging from 57,627 dollars /QALY to 75,885 dollars /QALY, were within established cost-effective parameters (20,000 dollars to 100,000 dollars /QALY, generally considered a good value), whereas cost-utility ratios for the standard care treatment groups were not interpretable because of a decrease in QALYs from pretreatment to posttreatment.

Efficacy of an early intervention for patients with acute temporomandibular disorder-related pain: a one-year outcome study.

BACKGROUND: The authors conducted a randomized clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy of a biopsychosocial intervention for patients who were at high risk (HR) of progressing from acute to chronic temporomandibular disorder (TMD)-related pain. METHODS: The authors classified subjects' risk using a predictive algorithm and randomized them into an early-intervention (EI) or a nonintervention (NI) group. The EI included cognitive behavioral skills training and biofeedback. The authors assessed pain and psychosocial measures at intake and at a one-year follow-up. Subjects' self-reported pain levels were measured on an analog scale and as a response to palpation. RESULTS: At one year, EI-group subjects had significantly lower levels of self-reported pain and depression. At one year, more NI-group subjects than EI-group subjects had utilized health care for jaw-related pain. NI-group subjects were 12.5 times as likely to have a somatoform disorder, more than seven times as likely to have an anxiety disorder, and 2.7 times more likely to have an affective disorder at one year, compared with EI-group subjects. CONCLUSIONS: EI-group subjects had reduced pain levels, improved coping abilities and reduced emotional distress at one year. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: The TMD-related pain experience is complex and requires early identification with a biopsychosocial EI to achieve maximal, sustainable results.