[Pain prevention in the primary care setting : Facts for resident physicians]. / Schmerzprävention in der Grundversorgung : Fakten für niedergelassene Ärzte.

Based on health insurance data, approximately 37.4 million patients (46%) in Germany are diagnosed with "pain". The prevalence of patients with debilitating chronic pain is around 7.3%. From the health care perspective, and given the high socioeconomic relevance of chronic pain, effective preventive measures represent useful therapeutic approaches. In the context of pain medicine, primary prevention aims to avoid acute pain. Secondary prevention is targeted at preventing acute pain from turning into chronic pain. Tertiary prevention comprises measures to diminish pain-associated disability and impairment to everyday life. Finally, quaternary prevention focuses on avoiding medically non-indicated or unhelpful medical interventions. In addition to general approaches of pain prevention, such as detecting and treating of chronification factors (yellow, black and blue flags), the present article also describes educational and disease-specific approaches in musculoskeletal and neuropathic pain syndromes as well as headaches.

[Relevance of preoperative anxiety for postoperative outcome in urological surgery patients: A prospective observational study]. / Bedeutung präoperativer Angst für den postoperativen Verlauf bei urologischen Patienten : Eine prospektive Beobachtungsstudie.

BACKGROUND: Preoperative anxiety is not systematically assessed during premedication appointments, although it may influence the postoperative course and outcome. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to assess preoperative anxiety in a sample of patients before major urological surgery and to characterize the impact on postoperative pain. An additional aim was to analyze the agreement between patients' self-ratings and physicians' anxiety ratings. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In all, 127 male and 27 female patients participated in a prospective observational study. Preoperative anxiety was assessed with two validated instruments - the APAIS (Amsterdam Preoperative Anxiety and Information Scale) and the State Scale of the STOA questionnaire (State-Trait Operation Anxiety) - during the premedication appointment. Physicians provided their subjective ratings on patients' anxiety and need for information using the APAIS. The predictive value of preoperative anxiety for postoperative pain was evaluated. RESULTS: Nearly four out of ten patients were identified as "anxiety cases"; thereof women were more afraid than men were. Preoperative anxiety was not correctly assessed by physicians, who overestimated patients' anxiety. In female patients, preoperative anxiety was predictive of increased postoperative pain scores. CONCLUSION: Preoperative anxiety is a frequent concern and often not correctly assessed by physicians. The use of scoring systems to detect preoperative anxiety is useful in clinical routine and helps to decide on therapeutic interventions.

[Expert testimony in post-traumatic stress disorder with pain as the main symptom]. / Begutachtung bei Posttraumatischer Belastungsstörung mit Leitsymptom Schmerz.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is one of the most relevant disorders of patients with chronic pain, but is often underdiagnosed. This also applies to expert testimony. Further complicating the assessment are the different definitions of PTSD in ICD-10 and DSM-IV; the new DSM-5 has added a further definition. The present review aims to provide guidance for making a valid diagnosis. This forms the basis for a differentiated expert testimony in the different fields of law (e.g., criminal law, statutory or private accident insurance or social security benefits), in which different requirements must be taken into consideration by the expert. The recognition of malingering is described at length, which plays a major role in PTSD expert testimony in all fields of law.

[Epidural injection shows no advantages over oral medication and physiotherapy in the treatment of sciatica, irrespective of the duration of symptoms]. / Kein Vorteil der epiduralen Injektion vs. oraler Medikation und Physiotherapie bei Ischialgie, unabhängig von der Beschwerdedauer.

BACKGROUND: The study presented here investigated the short-term effectiveness of one-off lumbar caudal epidural injection (EI) in sciatica in relationship to the reported duration of pain. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This retrospective analysis involved 106 consecutive in-patients who received either conservative treatment (Group I) or an additional EI on the first day of their treatment (Group II). Both groups were divided according to the duration of symptoms at the time of admission (less than three months, or more than six months). Propensity score matching was performed for the whole collective and the resulting subgroups. This incorporated gender, age and pain intensity at the time of admission. The target parameter were changes on a visual analogue scale (VAS) of pain intensity on days D1, D3, and D10 depending on the respective treatment. A routine evaluation of the mental variables anxiety, depression and somatisation was performed as part of the examination upon admission and their relationship to the success of treatment was later assessed. RESULTS: The mean age of the patients was 61.7 (± 11.6) in Group I and 63.6 (± 13.6) in Group II. 59 % of the patients were female (n = 63). The Lasègue sign was prevalent in 45 % of Group I and 51 % of Group II. The intensity of pain on the day of admission was similar in both groups (7.0 ± 1.0 for Group I, 6.7 ± 1.8 for Group II). The length of stay on the ward was also similar in both groups (10.2 ± 3.9 and 9.4 ± 3.7 d, respectively). It was found that, independent of the duration of symptoms, injection treatment was significantly more effective than conservative treatment only in the early stages (D1 and D3, p < 0.001). No differences could be found in the expression of these mental variables between treatment groups, as these factors showed no influence on the results of therapy. CONCLUSIONS: In the context of acute treatment a once only lumbar caudal epidural injection represents at most a short-term effectiveness for the therapy of sciatica. The results presented here indicate that neither the duration of symptoms nor the measured psychometric variables show any effect on the success of therapy.

[Save life--allow death. Collation of emergency missions for terminally ill patients]. / Leben retten--sterben zulassen. Erfassung notärztlicher Einsätze bei Patienten in der Terminalphase.

BACKGROUND: Emergency missions can also be necessary for patients in the terminal phase of a progressive incurable disease. The emergency physician, accustomed to acting under strict procedures and whose training focuses on the restoration and stabilization of acutely threatened vital functions, can face severe difficulties when treating incurably ill patients in the terminal phase. This study investigates the number of such cases, patient symptoms and the events occurring during life-threatening emergencies of terminally ill patients. METHOD: All cases of emergency events involving terminally ill patients were analyzed prospectively. In addition to the standardized protocol (following DIVI/Mind 2) an enquiry sheet was used, which contained an 8-item checklist specifically for terminally ill patients, to be filled out by the responding physician. RESULTS: The total number of patients in the terminal phase identified by the emergency physician was 55 (0.72% of total cases) and of these patients 30 (55%) were tumor patients. The most frequent complaint observed was dyspnea (30 patients, 55%), followed by relatives of the patients experiencing the stress of caring for a terminally ill person (19 patients, 35%). The leading symptom of 6 patients (11%) was pain. Only 17 cases (30.9%) required transport of the patient to hospital for further treatment. CONCLUSION: Every emergency physician can be confronted with an emergency involving a patient with a progressive incurable disease. The condition of each patient must be assessed for each medical decision. Not only medical, but also psychosocial, ethical and legal aspects have to be considered.

[Somatoform disorders with pain as the predominant symptom: results to distinguish a common group of diseases]. / Somatoforme Störungen mit Leitsymptom Schmerz: Ergebnisse zur Differenzierung einer häufigen Krankheitsgruppe.

According to a population-based prevalence study, medically unexplained pain syndromes are highly prevalent in the German general population. With a 1-year prevalence of 8% for somatoform pain disorders and a lifetime prevalence of 12.7%, they rank among the most prevalent conditions in the community. Until now, few studies have been conducted to characterize and differentiate patients with somatoform pain disorders in more detail. The present study is the first to examine a large patient cohort from a university hospital outpatient unit with somatoform disorders presenting with pain as the predominant complaint (n=282). Patients with a nociceptive or neuropathic pain mechanism were excluded after interdisciplinary diagnostic procedures, and all patients were differentiated in terms of comorbid psychic disorders and their symptom presentation. Psychic disorders were assessed using a standardized structured interview (SCID-I and SCID-II) and a structured biographical case history (MSBI) to assess chronification factors. The extent and distribution of bodily symptoms were collected using the screening for somatoform disorders (SOMS). A total of 69% of the patients examined suffered from anxiety and depressive disorders or other mental disorders, and only 14% had a comorbid personality disorder. More than 90% had further bodily symptoms apart from pain. The presence of mental disorders and the duration of the illness were associated with a higher number of bodily symptoms (e.g., fatigue, dizziness), for which they may also consult a doctor. In addition, the frequency of fibromyalgia syndrome increases with the extent of somatization. Our results ultimately support the idea of classifying this group of patients as an independent diagnostic group. They further suggest a future differentiation regarding the degree of impairment within this group similar to the systems of stages used in depressive disorders.

Neuropsychological status of alcohol-dependent patients: increased performance through goal-setting instructions.

AIMS: The effects of goal-setting instructions on neuropsychological performance of alcohol-dependent patients and control subjects were assessed. METHODS: 57 alcohol-dependent patients and 59 carefully age- and education-matched healthy control subjects underwent standard neuropsychological investigation. In addition, the goal-setting paradigm was used to systematically manipulate motivation. Participants were requested to calculate simple mathematical problems repeatedly within phases of a 2-min duration receiving normal or goal setting-instructions (to increase performance in the next phase by 20%). RESULTS: The patients demonstrated deficits in standard neuropsychological tests. Patients under goal-setting instructions demonstrated significantly higher improvement (correct responses: P = 0.016) relative to patients with standard instructions. Control subjects with goal-setting instructions demonstrated tendencies for higher improvement relative to control subjects with normal instructions. However, the differences were not significant. Interaction of group (patients vs. control subjects) and instructions (goal setting vs. normal) remained insignificant (P = 0.489) indicating that the increase through goal setting for the patients was not significantly higher than that for the control subjects. CONCLUSIONS: Despite of neuropsychological deficits in reasoning and psychomotor functioning, alcohol-dependent patients early in recovery are responsive to goal setting and able to increase neuropsychological performance. Therefore, goal-setting strategies might possibly be used in cognitive rehabilitation and therapy of alcohol-dependent patients. As there was no significant interaction in increase between patients and control subjects, our results do not support the hypothesis that the neuropsychological deficits are affected by or even caused by motivational limitations of the alcohol-dependent patients.