Pain News and Research

Latest Pain News and Research

Yoga, Tai Chi effective in treating fibromyalgia

This syndrome is often accompanied by fatigue, bowel disturbances, and urinary difficulty. Fibromyalgia can affect your daily activity, your sleep, and even your thinking when you're worn out and experiencing "brain fog." That's a term used by Henri Roca, MD, Medical Director at Greenwich Hospital's Center for Integrative Medicine in Cos Cob, Connecticut.

24 Sep 2010

Use of massage therapy reduces among men: AMTA survey

Results from the 14th annual consumer survey conducted by the American Massage Therapy Association indicate the use of massage among men has dropped from 18 percent in 2009 to 10 percent in 2010, a drop that is attributed to the lagging economy these past two years. The survey results were announced at the AMTA National Convention in Minneapolis, September 22-25, 2010.

24 Sep 2010

Technologic innovation — Telephones! — could save health system money

Health-coaching more patients over the phone could help save the system money according to a study published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine and noticed by the Wall Street Journal's Health Blog. "Typically this kind of care management, as it's called, is offered to people who have trouble managing their chronic conditions or who are facing a big treatment decision — such as surgery or medical management for lower back pain.

24 Sep 2010

Sensitizing effect of anger and sadness not limited to fibromyalgia patients

Researchers from Utrecht University who studied the effect of negative emotions on pain perception in women with and without fibromyalgia found that anger and sadness amplified pain equally in both groups. Full findings are now online and will publish in the October 2010 print issue of Arthritis Care & Research, a journal of the American College of Rheumatology.

24 Sep 2010

Advanced Targeting Systems receives NCI award to advance SP-SAP drug

Advanced Targeting Systems, the company that pioneered the targeting of specific cell types to manipulate them for the treatment of diseases and for research into the function of biological systems, has been awarded $3 million from the National Cancer Institute (NCI).

24 Sep 2010

$Study finds high rate of C-sections in women suffering from pelvic fractures$

Study finds high rate of C-sections in women suffering from pelvic fractures

In research led by a Saint Louis University surgeon, investigators found that women who give birth after suffering pelvic fractures receive C-sections at more than double normal rates despite the fact that vaginal delivery after such injuries is possible. In addition, women reported lingering, yet often treatable, symptoms following their pelvic fracture injuries, from urinary complications to post-traumatic stress disorder.

24 Sep 2010

Prescription only baby formula proposal

It has been known and recommended for some time now that breast milk is the best food for a new born. However for mothers who cannot breast feed, this has been a serious issue related to guilt and anguish. The controversy took a new turn as a Melbourne doctor of midwifery called for infant formula to be made available only by prescription. RMIT University expert Dr Jennifer James wants infant formula banned from supermarket shelves.

23 Sep 2010

Study finds adverse cardiac events rare during year after negative cardiac CTA scan

Adverse cardiac events are rare one year after patients are admitted to the emergency room with low-to-moderate risk chest pain and are discharged due to a negative cardiac computed tomography angiogram (CTA), according to a study in the October issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology. Cardiac CTA is a noninvasive heart-imaging test that determines whether fatty deposits or calcium deposits have built up in the coronary arteries that supply blood to the heart muscle.

23 Sep 2010

Research offers new strategy to increase learning with less effort

Scientists long have recognized that many perceptual skills important for language comprehension and reading can be enhanced through practice. Now research from Northwestern University suggests a new way of training that could reduce by at least half the effort previously thought necessary to make learning gains.

23 Sep 2010

Revolutionary technology 'cooks' brain tumor

University Hospitals (UH) Case Medical Center is offering new hope for patients with inoperable brain tumors or lesions previously diagnosed as untreatable through a revolutionary technology called AutoLITT which "cooks" brain tumors with an MRI-guided laser. UH becomes one of only three medical centers in the world offering AutoLITT as part of its arsenal in the fight against cancer. It is especially effective in treating glioblastoma, one of the most aggressive and difficult-to-treat brain cancers.

23 Sep 2010

FDA approves fingolimod drug for multiple sclerosis

The first oral medication for multiple sclerosis was approved today by the Food & Drug Administration. Physicians praised the decision to approve the drug, called fingolimod, saying it would give multiple sclerosis patients new options for treatment.

23 Sep 2010

Nerve inflammation may cause postsurgical neuropathies: Study

A new Mayo Clinic study found that nerve inflammation may cause the pain, numbness and weakness following surgical procedures that is known as postsurgical neuropathy. The development of postsurgical neuropathies is typically attributed to compression or stretching of nerves during surgery. This new research shows that, in some cases, the neuropathy is actually caused by the immune system attacking the nerves and is potentially treatable with immunosuppressive drugs.

23 Sep 2010

FDA grants priority review status for Endo’s oxymorphone oral formulation

Endo Pharmaceuticals announced that it recently received notification from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that Endo's new drug application (NDA) for its new oral formulation of long-acting oxymorphone, which is designed to be crush resistant, has been granted priority review status.

23 Sep 2010

Mother’s miracle surgery for cancer - body cut in half

Janis Ollson, 31 became the first patient to survive a rare bone cancer which required her body to be cut in half. When she was pregnant with her second child doctors assumed her intense back pain was just a typical symptom of pregnancy. But soon she was diagnosed with a bone cancer called sarcoma that was untreatable by chemotherapy or radiation.

23 Sep 2010

Kim Hames says case was not euthanasia

Western Australia has been debating euthanasia for a while and in a new development, Health Minister and Deputy Premier Kim Hames has admitted that as a GP he administered the painkiller morphine to hasten a cancer patient's death. He said in his statement that what he had done was legal and not euthanasia – which he opposed. His reasoning was that the pain relieving medication was intended to ease a patient's suffering rather than end their life.

23 Sep 2010

FDA approves Gilenya capsules for reducing MS relapses

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Gilenya capsules (fingolimod) to reduce relapses and delay disability progression in patients with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS).

22 Sep 2010

APF launches new educational initiative for people with pain, health care professionals

The American Pain Foundation today announced the launch of PainSAFE (Pain Safety & Access For Everyone), a new educational initiative designed for people with pain and health care professionals. The mission of PainSAFE is to provide education surrounding the appropriate and safe use of pain management therapies for people affected by pain and health care professionals, thereby, helping to reduce risk and improve access to quality pain care.

22 Sep 2010

AMS reports 12-month study results of Elevate Apical and Posterior Prolapse Repair System

American Medical Systems, a leading provider of world-class devices and therapies for both male and female pelvic health, today announced the results of a 12-month single-arm, prospective multi-center study of the Elevate® Apical and Posterior Prolapse Repair System. The pelvic organ prolapse quantification exam (POP-Q), used to quantify, describe, and stage pelvic support, was implemented in the study and concluded efficacy rates of Stage 1 or less to be 89.2% for Apical and 91.7% for Posterior.

22 Sep 2010

Paper calls for revision of STEMI guidelines around oxygen therapy

The European Society of Cardiology welcomes a paper published today in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology highlighting concerns over the use of oxygen therapy during MI in patients with normal oxygen levels. The publication adds to calls for revision of the STEMI guidelines around oxygen therapy and for a prospective, large scale randomised trials, issues that were both first raised in a Cochrane Review published in June.

22 Sep 2010

Communication breakdown exists between people with chronic pain, health care providers: Survey

Conversations with health care providers can be challenging at times for all patients, but a new survey commissioned by HealthyWomen and conducted by Synovate Healthcare in July of 2010 reveals a concerning communications breakdown between people with chronic pain and their health care providers. More than one-third of chronic pain sufferers (36%) have simply learned to live with their often debilitating pain and may be reluctant to speak with a health care provider about their condition, according to a survey of women and men with chronic pain released today.

22 Sep 2010