Active clinical trials for "Hyperalgesia"

Postoperative hyperalgesia has been reported after intraoperative administration of small or high-dose remifentanil. Cyclooxygenase inhibitor exhibit preventive effects on the development of opioid-induced hyperalgesia. The aim of this study is to evaluate the preventive effect of intravenous ibuprofen (Caldolor®) on remifentanil-induced hyperalgesia

The purpose of this study is to investigate and determine the time course and distribution on muscle hyperalgesia and muscle pain in a repeated, low dose NGF model. It is hypothesized that low dosages i.m injections of NGF are able to induce mechanical hyperalgesia and muscle soreness in a same manner (effect of duration) as for dosages previously used in NGF studies. Furthermore, it is also speculated if several injections of low dose NGF into the muscle combined are able to course immediate pain sensation and spreading of muscle hypersensitivity.

This study is designed to evaluate the method of assessing the and intensity areas of secondary hyperalgesia induced by High Frequency Stimulation (HFS). Measures of the areas of secondary hyperalgesia will take place on two experimental days separated by a minimum of two weeks. Each experimental day, the areas of secondary hyperalgesia will be assessed three times, starting 30 minutes following HFS. Furthermore, the investigators will assess if anxiety, catastrophization, stress and demographic variables modulate the extend of hyperalgesia.

In addition to alleviate pain there is growing evidence that µ-opioids enhance pain. This problem is known as opioid induced hyperalgesia(OIH).The NMDA receptor is involved in opioid induced hyperalgesia it may be possible to block OIH by cyclooxygenase inhibitors. This has been demonstrated with parecoxib, a COX-II inhibitor, in a experimental pain model.Both COX-1 and COX-2 are expressed in the spinal cord. It would be of interest to investigate whether a COX-1 preferring inhibitor like ketorolac also can reduce opioid induced hyperalgesic in this experimental pain model.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of Sativex® compared with placebo in relieving peripheral neuropathic pain associated with allodynia.

Prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blinded, crossover study to investigate the effect of cannabidiol (CBD) on remifentanil-induced hyperalgesia in healthy volunteers in a well-established acute pain model. Participants are randomized according to the order of the two treatments (CBD + Remifentanil or Placebo + Remifentanil).

Nocebo effects are adverse effects induced by patients' expectations. Nocebo effects on pain may underlie several clinical conditions, such as chronic pain. These effects can be learned via classical conditioning mechanisms. In the lab, nocebo effects are commonly studied via conditioning with continuous reinforcement (CRF) during which 100 percent of unconditioned pain stimuli are paired to conditioned stimuli (i.e., the activation of a mock medical device). Partial reinforcement (PRF) provides a more uncertain pairing during conditioning, where less than 100 percent of unconditioned pain stimuli are paired to conditioned stimuli. This method provides a potentially more clinically relevant learning platform to study how nocebo effects on pain are induced. In this study, the efficacy of conditioning with PRF, CRF, and sham-conditioning in inducing nocebo effects on pain will be compared. Furthermore, a counterconditioning method will be compared to an extinction method for the attenuation of nocebo effects on pain. Given the relevance of nocebo effects for patients, it is important to ascertain effective & clinically relevant methods to understand how nocebo effects may be formed and attenuated. This study is conducted by Leiden University.

Pain is a nociceptive somatosensory process that can arise as a debilitating and chronic symptom in various diseases or following an injury. How pain is experienced can vary widely within and across individuals, and can be shaped by cognitive processes such as learning. Nocebo effects, negative changes in symptom severity attributed to learned outcome-expectations, demonstrate how learning processes can be detrimental for the experience of pain. Research to date has produced inconclusive findings regarding the electrophysiological correlates on nocebo effects. The few studies that have applied electroencephalography (EEG) in this field have pointed towards a potential involvement of alpha-band activity, but the direction of this involvement remains unclear. For example, an EEG study of conditioned nocebo hyperalgesia found a pre to post increase in resting state alpha band power that was correlated with pain catastrophizing scores and not with the magnitude of the nocebo effect. Later, other studies also found pre to post changes in alpha band power, however, these changes were correlated with the magnitude of nocebo effects and not pain catastrophizing. Given the discrepancy in findings, in this study the investigators plan to primarily investigate whether EEG components predict the magnitude of nocebo responses to thermal-pain stimuli. The investigators will also explore electrophysiological correlates during pain anticipation and whether nocebo responses would be significantly related to spectral and temporal EEG biomarkers. This study will utilize a validated model of instructional and associative learning methods (i.e., negative suggestions and classical conditioning, respectively) to experimentally induce nocebo effects on heat-evoked pain. Developing objective, brain-derived markers for nocebo responses, or the detection of individuals most susceptible to nocebo hyperalgesia, will aid in the comprehensive management of pain. This study is conducted at Leiden University.

Nocebo effects are known to adversely affect the experience of various physical symptoms, such as pain and itch. Nocebo effects can be induced by associative learning mechanisms of classical conditioning. Furthermore, recent studies have shown that counterconditioning can successfully reduce nocebo effects, and to a larger extent than mere extinction, which suggests counterconditioning can be an innovative method for desensitization of symptoms. When using such procedures in clinical practice, deception of patients should be avoided as much as possible. The use of open-label procedures could provide a promising alternative. While previous studies have already shown that open-label placebos are effective, the effects of open-label counterconditioning and closed-label counterconditioning are not extensively investigated in comparison to other strategies, such as extinction, and not yet compared amongst each other. Before implementing such a procedure in clinical practice, it would be relevant to get an insight in the efficacy of both open- and closed-label counterconditioning in healthy participants as compared to extinction and to investigate whether open-label counterconditioning can be equally effective as closed-label counterconditioning. Furthermore, it would be relevant to study the induction and reduction of nocebo effects using a pain modality that mimics the type of pain that people suffering from several chronic pain conditions experience, such as pressure pain. The main aim of the current study is to investigate whether open- and closed-label counterconditioning are more effective in reducing nocebo effects than extinction. To this aim, it will be investigated whether open- and closed-label counterconditioning lead to stronger reductions in nocebo effects on pressure pain than (closed-label) extinction, and whether all three successfully reduce nocebo effects. Finally, it will be tested whether open- and closed label counterconditioning are comparable in effectivity.

The hypothesis of this investigation is to observe if HBO have an anti-inflammatory effect in humans induced by tonic heat stimulation. It has been shown in animal studies with rats that HBO could reduce the paw edema induced by carrageenan as an inflammatory agent. The authors are not aware of similar studies in human subjects investigating this effect of HBO. Aim: To investigate the anti-inflammatory effect of HBO by reducing the hyperalgesia induced by heat stimulation in healthy subjects and promote future research and understanding of the anti-inflammatory processes in humans. The primary endpoint is a reduced area of secondary hyperalgesia after HBO.