Evidence-based Clinical Practice Guidelines for Interventional Pain Management in Cancer Pain

Intractable cancer pain not amenable to standard oral or parenteral analgesics is a horrifying truth in 10–15% of patients. Interventional pain management techniques are an indispensable arsenal in pain physician''s armamentarium for severe, intractable pain and can be broadly classified into neuroablative and neuromodulation techniques. An array of neurolytic techniques (chemical, thermal, or surgical) can be employed for ablation of individual nerve fibers, plexuses, or intrathecalneurolysis in patients with resistant pain and short life-expectancy. Neuraxial administration of drugs and spinal cord stimulation to modulate or alter the pain perception constitutes the most frequently employed neuromodulation techniques. Lately, there is a rising call for early introduction of interventional techniques in carefully selected patients simultaneously or even before starting strong opioids. After decades of empirical use, it is the need of the hour to head towards professionalism and standardization in order to secure credibility of specialization and those practicing it. Even though the interventional management has found a definite place in cancer pain, there is a dearth of evidence-based practice guidelines for interventional therapies in cancer pain. This may be because of paucity of good quality randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating their safety and efficacy in cancer pain. Laying standardized guidelines based on existing and emerging evidence will act as a foundation step towards strengthening, credentialing, and dissemination of the specialty of interventional cancer pain management. This will also ensure an improved decision-making and quality of life (QoL) of the suffering patients.     

术后硬膜外和静脉联合镇痛的研究

目的：观察术后硬膜外和静脉联合镇痛的效果和不良反应。方法：连续硬膜外麻醉下行腹式全子宫切除术120例,随机分为I、II、III组,I、III组术毕经硬膜外腔给予吗啡1mg+甲氧氯普胺10mg+生理盐水至5ml;I组术后硬膜外镇痛（PCEA）用药为吗啡4mg+甲氧氯普胺30mg+生理盐水至100ml;II组手术结束前给予负荷量芬太尼0.1mg静脉注射,术后静脉镇痛（PCIA）用药为芬太尼0.015mg/kg+甲氧氯普胺30mg+生理盐水至100ml;III组术后PCIA为芬太尼0.01mg/kg+甲氧氯普胺30mg+生理盐水至100ml。观察记录各组术后4h、8h、16h、24h、32h的疼痛VAS评分和镇痛泵按压（PCA）次数及不良反应。结果：I组、III组镇痛效果好,II组比I组、III组稍差,I组、II组副作用与III组比明显增多（P＜0.05）。 III组术后各时点VAS评分最低,用药量小,副作用少。结论：联合镇痛能达到镇痛目的,起到阶梯用药的作用,减少用药量,减轻药物引起的副作用。     

右旋美托咪啶与咪达唑仑联合芬太尼在阑尾切除术中的作用比较

目的：比较右旋美托咪啶与咪达唑仑复合芬太尼用于硬膜外麻醉下阑尾切除术后苏醒时间以及不良反应。方法：选取2013年1月～2014年10月我院收治的60例硬膜外麻醉下阑尾切除手术患者,根据电脑产生序列号随机分为两组,咪达唑仑复合芬太尼组（M组,n=30）和右旋美托咪啶组（D组,n=30）,观察并记录患者给药前、给药后15min、分离阑尾时以及阑尾切除后5min时的MAP、HR、SPO2和术后苏醒时间以及不良反应。结果：两组MAP和SPO2差异无统计学意义（P>0.05）.D组HR减慢较M组明显（P<0.05）。 D组较M组苏醒时间明显缩短,同时明显降低恶心、呕吐、呼吸抑制的发生率,差异有统计学意义（P<0.05）,窦性心动过缓两组发生率差异无统计学意义（P>0.05）。结论：右旋美托咪啶用于硬膜外麻醉下阑尾切除术,较咪达唑仑复合芬太尼苏醒更快,副作用更小。     

复方亚甲蓝长效止痛剂用于肛肠科手术后止痛的疗效及时机观察

目的：观察复方亚甲蓝长效止痛剂用于肛肠科手术后止痛的疗效及时机。方法将448例需在硬膜外麻醉下行肛肠手术治疗患者,随机分为A、B、C、D 4组。 A、C组选择传统镇痛麻醉,B、D组选择超前平衡镇痛麻醉;A、B组术中采用利多卡因、盐酸布比卡因、地塞米松联合麻醉;C、D组给予甲磺酸罗哌卡因、利多卡因、0．9％氯化钠液、地塞米松、2％亚甲蓝等制成复方亚甲蓝长效止痛剂进行麻醉。比较各组患者术后各时期疼痛视觉模拟评分（ VAS）及麻醉后并发症。结果 D组麻醉术后各时期VAS评分低于C组和B组,A组麻醉术后各时期VAS评分高于C组,差异均有统计学意义（P＜0．05）。 D组麻醉后并发症发生率低于C组和B组,A组麻醉后并发症发生率高于C组,差异均有统计学意义（ P＜0．05）。结论超前平衡镇痛联合复方亚甲蓝长效止痛剂在肛肠科手术中具有良好的镇痛效果,并且麻醉后并发症发生率较低。     

产科手术施行硬膜外麻醉后并发症分析

目的：分析产科手术行硬膜外麻醉后并发症情况。方法将我院2013年2月－2014年2月接收的产科手术行硬膜外麻醉患者100例,术后给予患者48h的PCEA镇痛,观察其第1、2、3天和第1、3、6个月后的并发症情况。结果本组100例患者于术后第1天出现头痛1例,给予其补液、平卧休息处理后,于第3～8天消失;第2天有并发症14例（14．0％）,第3天有并发症41例（41．0％）。第6个月后症状消失。结论产科手术行硬膜外麻醉的常见并发症包括头痛、腰痛、腰酸胀痛和穿刺点压痛等,应给予患者及时有效的治疗,且手术过程中手法应熟练、术后积极采取相应的措施加速血液循环,以防止出现并发症。     

Clinical Characteristics of Spinal Epidural Abscess Accompanied by Bacteremia

ObjectiveThe treatment of choice for spinal epidural abscess (SEA) generally is urgent surgery in combination with intravenous antibiotic treatment. However, the optimal duration of antibiotic treatment has not been established to date, although 4–8 weeks is generally advised. Moreover, some researchers have reported that bacteremia is a risk factor for failure of antibiotic treatment in SEA. In this study, we investigated the clinical characteristics of SEA accompanied by bacteremia and also determined whether the conventional 4–8 weeks of antibiotic treatment is sufficient. MethodsWe retrospectively reviewed the medical records and radiological data of 23 patients with bacterial SEA who underwent open surgery from March 2010 to April 2020. All patients had bacteremia preoperatively and underwent weeks of perioperative antibiotic treatments based on their identified organisms until all symptoms of infection disappeared. All patients underwent microbiological studies of peripheral blood, specimens from SEA and concomitant infections. The mean follow-up duration was 35.2 months, excluding three patients who died. ResultsThe male : female ratio was 15 : 8, and the mean age was 68.9 years. The SEA most commonly involved the lumbar spinal segment (73.9%), and the mean size was 2.9 vertebral body lengths. Mean time periods of 8.4 days and 16.6 days were required from admission to diagnosis and from admission to surgery, respectively. Concomitant infections more frequently resulted in delayed diagnosis (p=0.032), masking the symptoms of SEA. Methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus was the most commonly identified pathogen in both blood and surgical specimens. Seventeen patients (73.9%) showed no deficits at the final follow-up. The overall antibiotic treatment duration was a mean of 66.6 days, excluding three patients who died. This duration was longer than the conventionally advised 4–8 weeks (p=0.010), and psoas or paraspinal abscess required prolonged duration of antibiotic treatment (p=0.038). ConclusionSEA accompanied by bacteremia required a longer duration (>8 weeks) of antibiotic treatment. In addition, the diagnosis was more frequently delayed in patients with concomitant infections. The duration of antibiotic treatment should be extended for SEA with bacteremia, and a high index of suspicion is mandatory for early diagnosis, especially in patients with concomitant infections.     

A review of epidural simulators: Where are we today?

Thirty-one central neural blockade simulators have been implemented into clinical practice over the last thirty years either commercially or for research. This review aims to provide a detailed evaluation of why we need epidural and spinal simulators in the first instance and then draws comparisons between computer-based and manikin-based simulators. This review covers thirty-one simulators in total; sixteen of which are solely epidural simulators, nine are for epidural plus spinal or lumbar puncture simulation, and six, which are solely lumbar puncture simulators. All hardware and software components of simulators are discussed, including actuators, sensors, graphics, haptics, and virtual reality based simulators. The purpose of this comparative review is to identify the direction for future epidural simulation by outlining necessary improvements to create the ideal epidural simulator. The weaknesses of existing simulators are discussed and their strengths identified so that these can be carried forward. This review aims to provide a foundation for the future creation of advanced simulators to enhance the training of epiduralists, enabling them to comprehensively practice epidural insertion in vitro before training on patients and ultimately reducing the potential risk of harm.     

A comparison of maternal fear of childbirth,labor pain intensity and intrapartum analgesic consumption between primiparas and multiparas: A cross-sectional study

ObjectivesTo describe and compare fear of childbirth and in-labor pain intensity between primiparas and multiparas and explore the association between the amount of actual pain relief and fear of childbirth.MethodsA convenience sampling method was used. A total of 260 women undergoing spontaneous or induced labor, including 97 primiparas and 163 multiparas, were recruited in a large academic specialized hospital in Guangzhou, China, from February 2018 to August 2019. The clinical data of maternal and neonatal were extracted from a structured electronic medical record system. Other demographic information, such as employment and family monthly income, was collected by a questionnaire. The Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) and the Chinese version of the Childbirth Attitude Questionnaire (C-CAQ) were applied to assess maternal in-labor pain intensity and fear of childbirth. The analgesic consumption and the frequency of manual boluses as rescue analgesia were stored and collected from the analgesia pump.ResultsEighty-two (84.5%) primiparas and ninety-nine (60.7%) multiparas received epidural analgesia (P < 0.001). In the epidural subgroup, the primiparous average fear of childbirth (36.46 ± 10.93) was higher than that of the multiparas (32.06 ± 10.23) (P = 0.007). However, multiparas reported more intense in-labor pain [8.0 (8.0, 9.0) vs. 8.0 (7.0, 8.0)], had more successful manual boluses per hour [2.68 (1.65, 3.85) vs. 1.77 (0.90, 2.47)], more hourly analgesic consumption [23.00 (16.00, 28.25) vs. 17.24 (11.52, 21.36) mL] and more average analgesic consumption [0.35 (0.24, 0.45) vs. 0.26 (0.19, 0.35) mL/(h·kg)] than the primiparas (P < 0.05). Spearman’s correlation analysis showed that the maximum in-labor pain was weakly positively correlated with fear of childbirth (r = 0.09) (P < 0.05), hourly analgesic consumption (r = 0.16) (P < 0.01) and average analgesic consumption (r = 0.17) (P < 0.05). No statistically significant association was uncovered between analgesic consumption and maternal fear of childbirth.ConclusionsFear of childbirth is a potential predictor of labor pain intensity. Further study is needed to explore its role and value in pain management during delivery. Parity is not a determinant of pain relief use and should not be a preconceived preference of obstetric care team members to determine the distribution of epidural analgesia, especially when analgesia resources are insufficient.     

Spontaneous epidural hematoma due to cervico-thoracic angiolipoma

Epidural angiolipomas are uncommon benign tumors of the spine. Their clinical presentation is usually a progressive spinal cord compression. We report the case of a 22-year-old patient who presented with an acute paraparesis and a spontaneous epidural hematoma, which revealed a epidural angiolipoma which extended from C7 to T3. The patient underwent a C7–T3 laminectomy, in emergency, with evacuation of the hematoma and extradural complete resection of a fibrous epidural tumor bleeding. The postoperative course was favorable with regression of neurological symptoms. Epidural angiolipomas can be revealed by spontaneous intratumoral hemorrhage without traumatism. The standard treatment is total removal by surgery.     

The effect of bupivacaine with fentanyl temperature on initiation and maintenance of labor epidural analgesia: a randomized controlled study

BackgroundLabor epidural analgesia is highly effective, but can be limited by slow onset and incomplete blockade. The administration of warmed, compared to room temperature, bupivacaine has resulted in more rapid onset epidural anesthesia. We hypothesized that the administration of bupivacaine with fentanyl at 37°C versus 20°C would result in improved initial and ongoing labor epidural analgesia.MethodsIn this prospective, randomized, doubled blinded study, 54 nulliparous, laboring women were randomized to receive epidural bupivacaine 0.125% with fentanyl 2 μg/mL (20 mL initial and 6 mL hourly boluses) at either 37°C or 20°C. Pain verbal rating scores (VRS), sensory level, oral temperature, and side effects were assessed after epidural loading (time 0), at 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 60 min, and at hourly intervals. The primary outcome was the time to achieve initial satisfactory analgesia (VRS ⩽3). Secondary outcomes included ongoing quality of sensory blockade, body temperature and shivering.ResultsThere were no differences between groups in patient demographics, initial pain scores, cervical dilatation, body temperature or mode of delivery. Epidural bupivacaine at 37°C resulted in shorter mean (±SD) analgesic onset time (9.2 ± 4.7 vs. 16.0 ± 10.5 min, P = 0.005) and improved analgesia for the first 15 min after initial bolus (P = 0.001–0.03). Although patient temperature increased during the study (P < 0.01), there were no differences between the groups (P = 0.09). Six (24%) and 10 (40%) patients experienced shivering in the 37°C and 20°C groups, respectively (P = 0.23).ConclusionsThe administration of epidural 0.125% bupivacaine with fentanyl 2 μg/mL at 37°C versus 20°C resulted in more rapid onset and improved labor analgesia for the first 15 min. There was no evidence of improved ongoing labor analgesia or differences in side effects between groups.