Alec B O'Connor

..This study assesses the effects of a resident teaching service restructuring on resident, student, and patient outcomes...

..The objective of this study was to measure the effects of a meperidine formulary restriction on the prescribing of parenteral opioid analgesics...

..To compare the net health effects and costs resulting from treatment with different first-line postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) medications...

..The present study was undertaken to determine: 1) whether different parenteral opioids are dosed equivalently; 2) which patient factors affect equianalgesic dose; and 3) which patient factors affect opioid choice...

..Painful diabetic neuropathy is common and adversely affects patients' quality of life and function. Several treatment options exist, but their relative efficacy and value are unknown...

..Nonteaching services (NTSs) are becoming increasingly prevalent in academic hospitals. This study was designed to determine whether the presence of an NTS is associated with higher acuity and altered case mix on the teaching service...

..The full costs to society of NP, including productivity loss costs, have not been determined for chronic NP. Improved relative efficacy, utility and cost estimates would facilitate future cost-effectiveness research in NP...

..This study sought to (1) describe the variability in intravenous opioid dosing and (2) compare the outcomes that result from the most commonly prescribed opioid doses...

..For all treatments for neuropathic pain, long-term studies, head-to-head comparisons, and studies of treatment combinations are a priority for future research...

..The objectives of this study were to measure the outcomes following administration of intravenous (IV) opioids and to identify clinical factors that may predict poor analgesic outcomes in these patients...

..The objectives of the current article are to review the Neuropathic Pain Special Interest Group guidelines for the pharmacological management of neuropathic pain and to provide a brief overview of these recent studies...

..Further studies are required to clarify precisely the mechanism and site of action of the lidocaine patch in patients with peripheral neuropathic pain...

..We studied bupropion because it inhibits the reuptake of both norepinephrine and dopamine, but found no evidence of efficacy in patients with non-neuropathic chronic low back pain...

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..It is unclear whether these trials were unsuccessful because the medications truly lack efficacy or whether characteristics of the trials compromised the demonstration of treatment benefits...

..The results indicate that severe rash is more common in patients with herpes zoster who are older and who have more severe acute pain and confirm that severe rash is a risk factor for prolonged pain...

..Distal-leg ENFD/morphology in MS DLLBP patients did not differ significantly from that of healthy controls. This study extends the range of ENFD controls and further supports use of ENFD assessment in SFSN...

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..Long-term studies, head-to-head comparisons between medications, studies involving combinations of medications, and RCTs examining treatment of central NP are lacking and should be a priority for future research...

..The treatment of painful diabetic polyneuropathy (DPN) is often inadequate and frequently limited by the systemic adverse effects of medications, necessitating the evaluation of novel treatments...

..PERSPECTIVE: Comprehensive assessments of pain are necessary for clinical research on the epidemiology, natural history, pathophysiologic mechanisms, treatment, and prevention of pain in herpes zoster and PHN...

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..We report upon the reliability, validity, and responsiveness to change of the Tampon Test as an outcome measure for vulvodynia clinical trials...

..Continued progress in basic and clinical research on the pathophysiologic mechanisms of neuropathic pain may make it possible to predict effective treatments for individual patients by application of a pain mechanism-based approach...

..We propose that the potential role of PUFAs as disease-modifying, anti-inflammatory treatments for MS should be revisited in proof-of-concept trials that use accepted MRI outcome measures...

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..The results also increase understanding of the economic burden of PHN and painful DPN and provide a basis for evaluating the impact on health care costs of new interventions for their treatment and prevention...

..There is great hope that the future may hold treatments that would prevent nerve damage...

..These results provide a basis for use of the SF-MPQ-2 in future clinical research, including clinical trials of treatments for neuropathic and non-neuropathic pain conditions...

..Such determinations must be conducted on a case-by-case basis, and are ideally informed by patients and their significant others, clinicians, researchers, statisticians, and representatives of society at large...

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..Conclusion. VVS patients show enhancement of post-capsaicin pain response extending far beyond the anatomic location of the primary complaint...

..We have therefore conducted a safety, tolerability, and effectiveness study of the lidocaine patch 5% in painful idiopathic distal sensory polyneuropathy...

..Improved efficacy of ion channel modulators hinges upon further elucidation of the relationship between signs and symptoms of pain and underlying pathophysiology...

..To examine the roles of physical and sexual abuse in women with chronic pelvic pain using multi-dimensional pain assessment and to compare the chronic pelvic pain experiences of women with physical abuse to those of women with sexual abuse...

..An overview is presented of neuropathic pain syndromes, their characteristic symptoms and signs, and recent approaches to identifying their pathophysiologic mechanisms...

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..Specific recommendations for the use of these medications are provided. In addition, suggestions are made for treatments that, when used in combination with antiviral therapy, may further reduce pain and other complications of HZ...

..The increasing incidence of herpes zoster that can be anticipated as the population ages requires that clinical trials that examine interventions to prevent or treat herpes zoster pain be given a high priority...

..To estimate the efficacy of common treatments for vulvodynia: topical lidocaine monotherapy, oral desipramine monotherapy, and lidocaine-desipramine combined therapy...

..Research on administration of the varicella-zoster vaccine to prevent herpes zoster and on treatment of patients who have herpes zoster with combined antiviral and analgesic therapy to prevent PHN is discussed...

..The reasons providers choose one parenteral opioid over another are not well understood. The authors sought to determine why emergency department (ED) providers choose one parenteral opioid over another...

..Teaching hospitals increasingly rely on transfers of patient care to another physician (hand-offs) to comply with duty hour restrictions. Little is known about the impact of hand-offs on medical students...

..To determine the healthcare costs of acute and chronic pain associated with herpes zoster...

..Suggestions for future studies that would increase understanding of the natural history, mechanisms, and treatment of pain in patients with MS are presented...

..PERSPECTIVE: This article presents information on the clinical features and treatment of herpes zoster. This information will help clinicians diagnose and manage herpes zoster pain...

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..This study describes a busy hospitalist unit's early experience with the collaborative development of teaching scripts...

..PERSPECTIVE: The results of this prospective study of patients with herpes zoster suggest that future research on the mechanisms and prevention of PHN should consider psychosocial as well as neurobiologic processes...