Active clinical trials for "Chronic Pain"

To assess the effects of prolonged preoperative gabapentin treatment (10 days) on chronic pain after thoracotomy.

Background and significance: Treatment with opioid pain medications (like hydrocodone and morphine) is common for severe pain, but studies show these medications may not always help and can cause serious problems. High daily doses of opioids can be especially unsafe. To help patients with chronic pain have better quality of life and avoid medication toxicity, health care teams need to manage pain while helping patients reduce opioid medication doses to safer levels.

The primary aim of this study is to test the feasibility and acceptability of implementing a multimedia computerized cognitive behavioral therapy (cCBT) program for reducing SCD pain symptoms in a single-arm pilot pragmatic clinical trial. The investigators will recruit 40 SCD patients with chronic pain and/or on chronic opioid pain treatment and randomize them 3:1 to two groups (cCBT and e-Education respectively), randomizing unevenly in order to best gather feasibility data for the cCBT. Both groups will use a mobile app to track daily pain/mood. The cCBT group will receive sessions of the CALM-SCD program to complete via mobile device and will have weekly follow-up with a care coach. The Education group will receive online education modules to complete via mobile device and will also have weekly follow-up with a care coach. The primary outcomes of the trial include feasibility (recruitment, retention, provider and patient feedback) and acceptability (sessions completed) of the CALM-SCD program.

The long-term goal is to define best practices for diminishing the risk of high opioid doses used to treat chronic non-cancer pain (CNCP) patients while optimizing pain outcomes and functional levels of activity, emotional functioning, and quality of life. The short-term goal is to assess the feasibility of multiple Clinical and Translational Research Award (CTSA) sites working together to perform and study the effects of a cognitive behavioral therapy intervention in a future randomized controlled trial (RCT) among CNCP patients in rural primary care practices in each CTSA state.

A pilot randomized controlled trial to assess feasibility, acceptability and generate outcome domains for a future RCT testing the efficacy of immersive virtual reality on pain intensity in pediatric amplified musculoskeletal pain syndrome.

Pain is the principal symptom in knee osteoarthritis (OA) and results in a considerable amount of years lived with disability, emotional distress and has significant socioeconomic consequences. Conservative treatment options, such as exercise, often fail to provide long-term pain relief and alternatively patients may be subjected to total knee arthroplasty. More than 20% of these patients experience persistent and unchanged pain post-surgery. Novel advances in the field of cryoneurolysis applies low temperatures to disrupt nerve signaling at the painful area and a recent study showed that it was possible to target the peripheral nerves in the knee and provide significant pain relief in patients with knee OA. This could potentially improve the efficacy of other therapies such as exercise, delaying or perhaps avoiding surgical intervention and improving quality of life in OA patients considerably. Further prospective randomized controlled studies are needed to confirm the effects of cryoneurolysis treatment in patients with knee OA. The primary objective of the current project is to determine the effectiveness of cryoneurolysis in its ability to decrease pain in patients with knee OA. The secondary objective is to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of cryoneurolysis in its ability to improve outcomes in the GLA:D program to potentially delay or avoid surgical intervention. 90 individuals with knee OA in the knee will be randomly allocated in either a cryoneurolysis intervention group or a sham group. Both groups will be assessed at baseline, 2 weeks post cryoneurolysis, post GLA;D and at 6, 12 and 24 month follow-up. The patients, therapists and data-manager will be blinded to the allocation. The primary outcome will be VAS knee pain intensity score, measured post cryoneurolysis treatment. Secondary outcome measures include functional performance, PRO-data (KOOS, EQ5D), analgesic use, a socio-economic evaluation and adverse effects.

The long-term goal of this proposal is to identify non-opioid drugs that harness endogenous anti-inflammatory mechanisms resulting in the suppression of proinflammatory cytokines such as IL-1ß providing a novel approach to treat chronic pain in people while lacking potential for addictive side effects. Specific Aim I: pramipexole blocks the activation of NLRP3 and consequent production and release of the proinflammatory cytokines IL-1ß, IL-6 and TNF-α, and increases production of the anti-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-10 (IL-10). The goal of Aim I (Phase I) experiments is to examine the specific anti-inflammatory mechanisms of pramipexole on PAMP, DAMP and opioid stimulated immune cells, THP-1 cells will be used. Specific Aim II: pramipexole treatment will provide therapeutic benefit to patients experiencing suboptimal pain relief from current standard therapy with concurrent reduction of TLR4-NLRP3-cytokine expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells. The goal of Aim II (Phase II) will be to determine the therapeutic benefit of pramipexole for pain, which is a repurposing of this FDA-approved drug with a good safety profile. 1.2. Our overarching hypothesis is that pramipexole will control clinical pain by suppressing the activation of the TLR4-NLRP3-IL-1ß pathway and prevent IL-1ß release from peripheral immune cells. These findings have provided the current impetus to examine pain therapeutic drugs targeting immune-related factors either upstream or downstream of IL-1ß signaling.

The aim of the present study is to evaluate the psychophysiological effects of a smart phone based mindfulness meditation app (MMA) for individuals with clinically significant symptoms of major depression and/or anxiety, or symptoms of chronic pain. Specifically, the study aims to examine parasympathetic tone using HRV (primary outcome), mind-wandering and present awareness, mood symptoms, and breath focus in groups of participants who self-report clinically significant symptoms of depression and/or anxiety (DA), chronic pain symptoms (CP), as well as control participants who do not meet our criteria for either (Controls (C). All study groups will be randomized to a mindfulness meditation app (MMA+) condition or a mindfulness meditation condition without the app (MMA-) after a brief stress-induction procedure.

Postmastectomy pain syndrome (PMPS) is a neuropathic pain that can follow surgical treatment for breast cancer, The antineuropathic medications (antidepressants and anticonvulsants) are disappointing and have low success rate. Continues Radiofrequency lesioning has been reported as treatment for several chronic pain conditions.The concept that the clinical effect of RF was caused by formation of heat had not been challenged. Thermocoagulation of nerve fibers would interfere with the conduction of nociceptive stimuli and pain would be relived. Thoracic sympathectomy has been done for many painful conditions that includes complex regional pain syndrome .It offers the benefit over stellate ganglion block as it blocks the Kuntz fibers that connect to the brachial plexus roots without passing through stellate ganglion.

Background: Chronic pain is a highly prevalent phenomenon with a large impact on the individual's wellbeing. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) can be used to help patients relate to chronic pain in a way that helps improve their quality of life. This paper introduces an ACT protocol specific to chronic pain patients: ACT- Exposure and Perspective Taking (ACT-EPT). Aspects specific to this therapy are the focus on exposure as a means to elicit behavioural and emotional change regarding pain experience and it's format as a compact individual therapy. Objectives: Investigators conduct a single case experimental study (ABA design) with a multiple baseline design, aimed at assessing the effectiveness of the experimental ACT-EPT protocol (phase B) compared to usual care (phase A) in individual chronic pain patients. Outcomes include the increase of participation in daily life and health related quality of life, measured with the Short Form-12 (SF-12). Quantitative results will be combined with qualitative results from interviews in a mixed methods design. Participants: Five adults with chronic pain referred to a rehabilitation centre (≥18 years old). Methods: Phases A and B together take 16 weeks for each participant, during which weekly quantitative measurements will be taken. The length of the first phase A will be randomised. The intervention (phase B) consists of weekly ACT-EPT sessions with a maximum of 3 sessions of approximately 90 minutes each. Individual interviews will take place after the last quantitative measurements. These focus on two topics: psychological processes of change and evaluating the intervention.