Sahng-Gun Nahm

Background: A skin temperature difference is one of the variables used in the diagnosis of complex regional pain syndrome. However, there have been no reports as to whether the real (ΔT) or absolute value (│ΔT│) of skin temperature differences should be used in the diagnosis of complex regional pain syndrome. This study was conducted to compare the diagnostic validity of ΔT with │ΔT│ for complex regional pain syndrome using receiver operating characteristic curves (ROC). Methods: Infrared thermo

The intrathecal drug administration system (ITDAS) has recently been introduced for treating chronic intractable pain patients who have failed with conservative pain treatments. The obvious advantages of its use are the direct intrathecal delivery of drugs, which yields reduced adverse effects and the increased strength of drugs, as compared to its oral or intravenous route. This article offers a review of the ITDAS with a brief review of its evidence-based effectiveness, the technical approach,

Opioids profoundly inhibit evoked discharges of spinal nociceptive neurons, thereby inhibiting the transmission of pain. Intrathecal administration of opioids using implantable continuous infusion systems is an effective method of pain relief when other treatments have failed, as well as for patients with adequate analgesia on high dose therapy that produces unacceptable side effects. We report two cases of intrathecal pump implantation performed in patients suffering from intractable chronic pa

Skull base osteomyelitis is a rare but life-threatening complication of inflammation of the ear. The authors present a case of skull base osteomyelitis of unknown etiology in a non-diabetic patient who presented with unilateral posterior neck and occipital headache mimicking cervicogenic headache

Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) has become an established clinical option for treatment of refractory chronic pain.Current hardware and implantation techniques for SCS are already highly developed and continuously improving, however equipment failures over the course of the long-term treatment are still encountered in a relatively high proportion of treated cases.Percutaneous SCS leads seem to be particularly prone to dislocation and insulation failures.We describe our experience of lead breakage

A 54-year-old man who had metastasis of gastric cancer was referred to pain clinic to control his severe epigastric pain. After the confirmation of the effect of the diagnostic celiac plexus block, c-arm-guided neurolysis of celiac plexus using alcohol was performed without any sensory or motor change. Five days after the chemical neurolysis, elevated hemidiaphragm and basal atelectasis of right lung were noted at routine chest X-ray follow-up without any respiratory symptoms such as dyspnea. Th

Background: There have been limited reports on the effectiveness of 5% lidocaine patches (L5Ps) for treating a few types of chronic pain. We utilized L5Ps for chronic pain patients with various diagnoses and who had incompletely responded to their current treatment regimen. This study aimed at describing the results of a retrospective review of an open-label L5P trial to assess L5Ps’ effectiveness and safety for treating various chronic pain patients. Methods: The chronic pain patients with pai

Background: Skin antisepsis prior to the induction of spinal anesthesia is important because infectious complications may occur. Povidone-iodine and chlorhexidine have been widely used as antiseptic solutions for skin preparation; however, no study has been carried out to evaluate the efficacies of these antiseptic solutions for skin disinfection for spinal anesthesia. The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of povidone-iodine and chlorhexidine by monitoring needle contamination rates

Knee osteoarthritis is a common, but difficult problem to manage in primary care. Intra-articular hyaluronic acid injection has recently been frequently used for treating knee osteoarthritis. The adverse local reactions, except septic arthritis, following intra-articular hyaluronic acid injections are generally transient and not severe. Pseudoseptic arthritis is an extreme form of inflammatory arthritis that is not due to bacterial infection and it is important to distinguish this from true sept

Bone scan using 99mTc-MDP is the most accurate and reliable method for the early detection of fracture, and that is the screening procedure of choice for the demonstration of bone metastases. It is well known that it has superior sensitivity to radiography for this purpose. We report the case of 41 years old man with known primary tumor and metastatic vertebral fracture presenting false negative bone scan finding.

For over a thousand years, various substances have been applied to the skin to treat pain. Some of these substances have active ingredients that we still use today. However, some have been discontinued due to their harmful effect, while others have been long forgotten. Recent concerns regarding the cardiovascular and renal risk from nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and issues with opioids, have resulted in increasing demand and attention to non-systemic topical alternatives. There is increa