New Books

Breaking News

This section includes a wide variety of pain management stories, arranged by date and type (not significance), which have appeared in the popular media (print, broadcast, and on-line) in the last month. Because of the volume of stories, only the first few are included on the main page. Be sure to click on "More Stories" at the bottom of each front page section.

Pain Studies In The News

New tool differentiates lower back pain pathology
April 07, 2009 [Source: PLoS Medicine]
Researchers have come up with an improved standardized test for quickly differentiating between neuropathic and non-neuropathic pain in the lower back. The new test, StEP, distinguished between patients with neuropathic radicular back pain and those with non-neuropathic axial back pain with high sensitivity (92%) and specificity (97%). it takes only 10 to 15 minutes to administer StEP, compared with the 60 to 90 minutes for a more complicated assessment. Story

'Pain in the ICU' report suggests comprehensive approach
April 7, 2009 [Source: CHEST]
Managing pain in the ICU is an ongoing and significant challenge for the critical care team. However, new reports suggest that taking a comprehensive approach to pain management may be the key to managing pain in the ICU and even decreasing the incidence of preventable pain. Story

More Pain Studies In The News

Pain Stories In The News

FDA switch OKs hospice painkiller
April 9, 2009 [Source: FDA/AP]
A liquid morphine painkiller given by family caregivers to dying patients can remain on the market, federal regulators have decided after hearing protests about their decision to remove it. Story

Gyrotonic: it's not torture, it's good for you
April 6, 2009 [Source: Reuters]
They may look like upscale torture chambers in polished wood, but the Gyrotonic studios springing up in cities around the world aim to ease your pain, not to cause it. Ironically, relief, fitness and alignment comes via a daunting arrangement of pulleys, levers and cranks. Story

More Pain Stories In The News

Policy and Law

National All Schedules Prescription Electronic Reporting (NASPER) bill receives preliminary funding
April 1, 2009 [Source: American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians]
The American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians announced that National All Schedules Prescription Electronic Reporting (NASPER) has received preliminary funding to begin implementation. The Omnibus Appropriations Bill (H.R. 1105) includes $2 million in appropriated funds for NASPER in 2009. Story

FDA acts to halt marketing of certain unapproved prescription narcotic drugs
March 31, 2009 [Source: FDA]
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today warned nine companies to stop manufacturing 14 unapproved narcotic drugs that are marketed in several dosage forms and are widely used to treat pain. Story

More Policy and Law

Product News & Clinical Trial Reports

Pfizer moves arthritis, pain drugs to late trials
April 2, 2009 [Source: Pfizer, Inc.]
Pfizer Inc it has advanced two more drugs into late-stage patient studies, including an intravenous medicine for osteoarthritis and a pill for rheumatoid arthritis that might someday compete with costly biotech treatments. One of the two drugs recently moved into Phase III studies is a JAK inhibitor (CP-690,550), which it described as the first disease-modifying pill for rheumatoid arthritis in the past 10 years. The other medicine entering Phase III studies is tanezumab, a monoclonal antibody that in earlier trials significantly reduced knee pain in patients with osteoarthritis. Story

Labopharm reports results for Phase III study on twice-daily tramadol-acetaminophen formulation
April 2, 2009 [Source: Labopharm Inc]
Labopharm Inc. announced the results of a Phase III study thatcompared the efficacy and safety of Labopharm's twice-daily tramadol-acetaminophen formulation to placebo in the treatment of moderate to severe acute low back pain. Results of the efficacy measures in the study demonstrated a statistically significant difference from placebo in some cases but not in others. Story

More Product News & Clinical Trial Reports

Prescription Addiction, Diversion, and Abuse

Pain pills from South Florida flood Appalachian states
April 6, 2009 [Source: Miami Herald]
Squads of traffickers dispatched from Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio and West descend on the Fort Lauderdale area almost daily to buy oxycodone, methadone and other narcotics from doctors at local pain clinics and resell them in Appalachia, according to interviews with police and court records. Story

Center for Lawful Access and Abuse Deterrence and the Human Resources Development Institute, Inc. release “National Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention Strategy”
This 56 page document is a proposed national policy that focuses on opioid analgesics and describes a systems approach for abuse prevention with multiple action-oriented strategies. It was developed following expert input from the pain management field, in addition to the general medical/scientific and drug abuse prevention communities. Story

Admissions for prescription painkiller abuse on rise
March 17, 2009 [Source: SAMHSA]
Admissions for treatment of prescription painkiller abuse in the United States have risen dramatically over the past decade, from 1 percent of all substance abuse admissions in 1997 to 5 percent in 2007, according to a government report. Story

Advocacy

The new AfterShingles.com helps educate consumers about shingles and after-shingles pain
March 31, 2009 [Source: The Visiting Nurse Associations of America; National Pain Foundation; National Council on Aging]
The Visiting Nurse Associations of Americ, the National Pain Foundation and the National Council on Aging today announced the re-launch of AfterShingles.com, an online resource offering tools and information to help educate consumers about shingles and postherpetic neuralgia (PHN), or after-shingles pain, its impact on people's lives and steps to take to help manage the conditions. Story

NVA joins forces with five non-profits to help millions of patients suffering from coexisting medical conditions
March 30, 2009 [Source: National Vulvodynia Association]
In an effort to help millions of Americans suffering from multiple chronic medical conditions, the NVA, and five other independent nonprofit organizations, have come together to form the Overlapping Conditions Alliance. The new Alliance will promote research into the underlying connection(s) between these coexisting conditions. As part of this effort, the Alliance has launched an informational web site which can be viewed at www.OverlappingConditions.org

Recent Online Publications [Monographs]

Stanford SB
Fibromyalgia: psychiatric drugs target CNS-linked symptoms
Current Psychiatry Online 2009 March 8(3): [n.p.]
Patients with fibromyalgia are a heterogeneous group, yet many describe a common experience: seeing multiple physicians who seem unable or unwilling to provide a diagnosis or treat their symptoms. This situation may be changing with the recent FDA approval of an anticonvulsant and 2 antidepressants for managing fibromyalgia symptoms. These medications—pregabalin, duloxetine, and milnacipran—reflect a revised understanding of fibromyalgia as a CNS condition, rather than an inflammatory process in the muscles or connective tissue. Full Text

Highlights for 2007 treatment episode data set
(Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2009)
This report presents summary results from the Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS) for 2007. The report provides information on the demographic and substance abuse characteristics of the 1.8 million annual admissions to treatment for abuse of alcohol and drugs in facilities that report to individual State administrative data systems.
Highlights

Research Abstracts Stay up-to-date on the latest research! This section of Currents offers complete abstracts on a wide variety of pain and pain management topics that have been selected from the National Library of Medicine. All Abstracts

Some include:

Atkinson JH, Patel SM, Meyer JM, et al.
Is there a therapeutic window with some antidepressants for analgesic response? Abstract

Beissner K, Henderson CR Jr, Papaleontiou M, et al.
Physical therapists' use of cognitive-behavioral therapy for older adults with chronic pain: a nationwide survey. Abstract

Caiata Zufferey M, Schulz PJ.
Self-management of chronic low back pain: an exploration of the impact of a patient-centered website.Abstract

Frey ME, Manchikanti L, Benyamin RM, et al.
Spinal cord stimulation for patients with failed back surgery syndrome: a systematic review. Abstract

Lush E, Salmon P, Floyd A, Studts JL, et al.
Mindfulness meditation for symptom reduction in fibromyalgia: psychophysiological correlates. Abstract

Peniston JH, Gould E.
Oxymorphone extended release for the treatment of chronic low back pain: a retrospective pooled analysis of enriched-enrollment clinical trial data stratified according to age, sex, and prior opioid use. Abstract

203 Research Abstracts

Legislative and Administrative Updates

Branch of Government: U.S. Congress. House
Title: National Pain Care Policy Act of 2009 (H.R. 756)
Summary: Amends the Public Health Service Act to establish a national conference on pain, as well as an interagency committee to coordinate pain research. The bill also authorizes $5 million per year in grants for health professions schools and other entities regarding pain care training, as well as a national pain education outreach and awareness campaign on pain management. The bill would authorize a total of $36 million in appropriations over five years.
Sponsor: Lois Capps, D-CA
Status:
1/28/2009 Introduced in House
3/23/2009 Reported by the Committee on Energy and Commerce. H. Rept. 111-47.
3/30/2009 Passed/agreed to in House: On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote.
3/31/2009 Referred to Senate committee: Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. [full text]

Branch of Government: U.S. Senate
Title: National Pain Care Policy Act of 2009 (S. 660)
Summary: A bill to amend the Public Health Service Act with respect to pain care
Sponsor: Orrin G. Hatch, R-UT
Status:
March 19, 2009: Introduced. Referred to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.
March 19, 2009 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions [full text]

More Legislative and Administrative Updates

New Practice Guidelines

Age Groups, Aged
Dannemiller Memorial Educational Foundation (supported by an educational grant from Purdue Pharma, L.P. )
Pain Management for the Elderly
[Full Text]

Analgesics, Non-Narcotic
Lanza FL, Chan FK, Quigley EM; Practice Parameters Committee of the American College of Gastroenterology.
Guidelines for prevention of NSAID-related ulcer complications
[Summary]

More Practice Guidelines

New Clinical Trials

California

Arthritis
City: Fair Oaks
Summary: A study to investigate the safety and efficacy of orally administrered SD-6010 in subjects with osteoarthritic knee pain.

Cancer Pain
City: Laguna Hills
Summary: A study evaluating the safety and effectiveness of subcutaneous methylnaltrexone in subjects with cancer-related pain and constipation from opioids.

City: Lancaster
Summary: A study evaluating the safety and effectiveness of subcutaneous methylnaltrexone in subjects with cancer-related pain and constipation from opioids.

More New Clinical Trials

New Books

Low Back Pain : An Evidence-Based, Biopsychosocial Model for Clinical Management, 2nd edition
Edited by Jane Derebery and John R. Anderson
Beverly Farms, MA : OEM Press, 2008

How a physician understands, interacts, and communicates with a patient with musculoskeletal low back pain will have a powerful impact on the course of care and outcome, regardless of the diagnosis. The authors of the new second edition of Low Back Pain provide a unique and valuable perspective on the non-surgical management of this potentially disabling condition.

The book is based on a biopsychosocial model for evaluation and management, with the recognition that there is more to a person with low back pain than just a body with a biomechanical problem involving bones, discs, nerves, and muscles. Inherent in this model is viewing patients within the context of their environment, including their personal life and work, which can significantly influence both illness and recovery. While providing the latest available scientific data regarding back pain diagnosis and management, this new edition also provides specific information regarding biopsychosocial management that promotes functional recovery. More info

10% discount available until June 1, 2009
Orders can be placed on our website by selecting Product Code # 23095 and using Promo Code "BackPain" when placing their order. Or, call us at 1-800-533-8046 and use Promo Code "BackPain" to obtain the discount. Shipping and handling is additional.

Lagniappe (A little something extra)

The relationship between caffeine, physical activity and pain March 31, 2009 [Source: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign]
Stopping to smell the coffee - and enjoy a cup of it - before your morning workout might do more than just get your juices flowing. It might be that a little caffeine will reduce the amount of pain you experience and, maybe, that would help you stick with your exercise. Story

Compassion fatigue: impact on healthcare providers of caring for the terminally ill
April 1, 2009 [Source: Journal of Health Psychology]
Compassion fatigue in nurses, doctors and other front line cancer-care providers significantly impacts how they interact with patients, with patient families, with other healthcare workers, and with their own family. Story

Pain management crossword puzzle
Napa Valley College, (n.d.)
Puzzle

Crabs not only suffer pain, but retain memory of it
March 27, 2009 [Source: Queen's University Belfast/Journal of Animal Behavior]
A study, published in the Journal Animal Behaviour, which looked at the reactions of hermit crabs to small electric shocks has shown that crabs not only suffer pain but that they retain a memory of it. Story

Editorial Team
Edward Duensing, Research
Lennie Duensing, Editorial

Design Team
Carol Harper, Art Direction
Katie Duensing, Data Input