Clinical Research Directory

Radiofrequency Ablation for the Treatment of Post-knee Arthroplasty Chronic Pain.

Knee osteoarthritis pain is one of the conditions commonly seen in general and specialized medicine. Knee arthroplasty is one of the most successful orthopedic surgeries for the treatment of this disease, significantly improving pain, disability, and the overall quality of life for patients who undergo it. However, there is a subgroup of individuals in whom the pain persists or even worsens. Radiofrequency has been introduced over 10 years ago as a neuroablative technique targeting the genicular nerves, which innervate the sensory terminals of the knee joint, for the treatment of chronic pain in that region before or after arthroplasty. However, the results have not been entirely consistent. Recent anatomical studies have demonstrated the presence of other sensory terminal branches of the femoral nerve, such as the infrapatellar branch of the saphenous nerve, medial vastus nerve, intermediate vastus nerve, and lateral vastus nerve, which could be useful targets for the treatment of post-knee arthroplasty pain. To date, no studies have been conducted to address post-knee arthroplasty pain through the application of thermal radiofrequency on the sensory branches of the knee from the femoral nerve (infrapatellar branch of the saphenous nerve, medial vastus nerve, intermediate vastus nerve, lateral vastus nerve). Therefore, The investigators aim to conduct a randomized double-blind clinical trial where The investigators will apply thermal radiofrequency on the sensory terminal branches of the femoral nerve in the knee, based on recent anatomical studies. The objective of the study is to determine if radiofrequency ablation of sensory nerves in the knee improves pain and disability in patients with post-knee arthroplasty chronic pain at the L'Alt Penedés-Garraf Health Consortium. Method: This is a randomized double-blind clinical trial with two arms. Two groups will be used, where one group will receive thermal radiofrequency of sensory nerves in the knee, and the other group will receive a placebo treatment. The hypothesis The investigators propose is that radiofrequency ablation will alleviate at least 50% of baseline pain and disability in at least 50% of the patients.

Butyrate and Taurine for Chronic Postsurgical Pain in Adult Cardiac Surgical Patients

This study is a single-center, phase II, randomized, placebo-controlled, Bayesian-designed, double-blinded trial Goal and Questions: The primary goal is to evaluate if a combination of taurine and butyrate can reduce chronic postsurgical pain (CPSP) in adult cardiac surgical patients. The study also aims to determine if these compounds are safe, effective in perioperative pain control, and feasible for improving postoperative outcomes. Participants: The study will include adult patients (aged 18 or older) undergoing elective coronary artery bypass graft (CABG), valve repair/replacement, combined CABG/valve, or major aortic procedure via sternotomy. Exclusion criteria include emergency surgery, redo surgery, a history of chronic pain or chronic opioid/sedative use, and an estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) less than 30 mL/min. The target sample size is 216 patients. Intervention group: Patients will receive 4g of taurine and 4.8g of sodium butyrate orally once daily, starting the day before surgery and continuing for three months post-surgery. Placebo group: Patients will receive indistinguishable placebo capsules orally once daily, following the same schedule as the intervention group. Primary Outcome: The incidence of chronic postsurgical pain at 3 months, Secondary Outcomes: Quality of Recovery Questionnaire (QoR-15) at 72 hours after extubation. Pain scores (NRS) at rest and with movement at 12, 24, 48, and 72 hours post-extubation. Postoperative morphine requirements and time to first morphine rescue. Incidence of opioid-related side effects, such as postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV). Duration of mechanical ventilation, and length of stay in the ICU and hospital. Long-term pain assessment using the Short-Form McGill Pain Questionnaire-2 (SF-MPQ-2), Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) Interference Scale, and Neuropathic Pain Questionnaire (NPQ) at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months post-surgery Proteomic analysis: Blood samples within 72 hours after surgery will be collected for proteomic analysis to investigate predictors for chronic postsurgical pain.

Cytokine Alterations and Chronic Post-Surgical Pain

Chronic Post-Surgical Pain (CPSP) is a condition that involves experiencing pain and/or discomfort that lasts for more than 3 months following surgery without any explainable cause of this pain such chronic infection or pain caused from a condition preceding surgery. This condition negatively impacts health related quality of life and is associated with significant financial burden both for the patient and health care system. Patients undergoing common surgeries such as amputation, breast surgery, hernia repair, coronary artery bypass, and caesarean section can be prone to developing CPSP. CPSP may be caused by the release and expression of different cellular molecules called cytokines and chemokines that can cause a pain response when they are present in the body at certain levels. After surgical incision, tissue cells have been shown to release cytokines and chemokines, thus increasing the concentration of these molecules in the patient's blood. It is not entirely known what mechanisms cause the increased expression of chemokines and cytokines. One method that may play a role in in this expression is epigenetics which is the alteration of gene expression without permanently altering the structure of DNA. Unlike mutations, epigenetic changes are dynamic, possibly reversible, and are influenced by environmental and behavioral changes such as diet, exercise, disease, stress, toxin exposure etc. Epigenetic changes occur all throughout our life and have been associated with several disease processes such as cancer, diabetic complications, and chronic pain. At the molecular level, certain events take place that can regulate (increase or decrease) the expression of cytokines and chemokines, most notably DNA methylation of their promotor (which involves adding molecules to DNA that does not change its structure but changes it's activity). The investigators are conducting this study to determine if the alteration of specific cytokines are associated with the occurrence of CPSP and whether these cytokines are regulated by DNA methylation at their promoter. This study will take place at London Health Sciences Centre and will recruit up to 60 patients who will be undergoing a thoracotomy procedure (surgery of the chest area).

Longitudinal Study of Chronic Postsurgical Pain in Children and Adolescents

Chronic postsurgical pain is defined as pain that develops or intensifies following a surgical procedure. After major surgery, around 20% of children and adolescents develop chronic postsurgical pain, and, as part of it, negative consequences on their quality of life. Emotion-related factors such as the variability of emotions, how emotions are regulated, and how well someone is able to differentiate between different emotions have in part been studied in other types of chronic pain. To date, no study examined emotion-related factors in the development and maintenance of chronic postsurgical pain. This observational study includes five assessment time points, one before and four after major surgery, with the goal to identify emotion-related factors that increase or decrease the risk for the development of chronic postsurgical pain.

Clinical Prediction of Post-surgical Pain

This study aims to externally validate two clinical prediction models for moderate-to-severe acute post-surgical pain and chronic post-surgical pain. This multi-centre, prospective cohort study will be conducted in Denmark and will include adult patients undergoing various types of elective or sub-acute surgical procedures.

The Effect of Individualised Pain Education on Chronic Postoperative Pain Development and Quality of Life in Living Liver Donors

Chronic postoperative pain is defined as pain that is a continuation of acute pain or develops after a pain-free period, is localised to the surgical site, affects quality of life, and persists for at least 3 months after surgery when other pain factors are excluded. Chronic postoperative pain, as a major complication of surgery, increases the use of analgesics, restricts activities of daily living, reduces quality of life and creates a serious economic burden. Prolonged pain in the preoperative period and poorly treated postoperative acute pain may trigger the development of chronic pain. Chronic postoperative pain is an important and current problem in living liver transplant donors as in many patient groups. Chronic pain due to severe postoperative acute pain is reported as an expected outcome after open surgical resection in living liver transplant donors. The reason for this is thought to be inadequate perioperative pain management. Inadequate perioperative pain management may lead to sub-optimal pain management, delayed recovery, unexpected readmissions, decreased patient satisfaction, prolonged duration of opioid analgesia with potential for narcotic abuse, and clinical, psychological and socioeconomic consequences that may possibly lead to chronic postoperative pain. Chronic postoperative pain is a common but overlooked complication of surgery that can cause functional limitation, psychological distress and poor quality of life in patients and its management is very important for nurses. An important aim of nursing care is to help liver living donors regain their health and quality of life. Providing management of acute postoperative pain, preventing the development of chronic postoperative pain and improving quality of life in patients undergoing surgical procedures are important issues for nurses. At the same time, chronic postoperative pain management, as a very current issue, requires nurses to plan and implement more effective interventions. With appropriate pain interventions in the preoperative and early postoperative period, the patient should be educated and counselled about self-management strategies, return to normal functionality and the possibility of developing chronic pain after surgery. Adequate perioperative education about the surgery and expected outcomes may alleviate stress, reduce the severity of acute pain and help prevent chronic postoperative pain. It is thought that individualised pain education will be effective on chronic postoperative pain development and quality of life of patients. When the literature was reviewed, no study on individualised pain education for liver living donors was found. At the same time, no study was found in the literature in which chronic postoperative pain and quality of life were examined together in liver living donors. The fact that the subject will be investigated for the first time adds originality to the study. With this study, the effect of individualised pain education on prevention or reduction of chronic postoperative pain and improvement of quality of life will be determined. Thus, the data obtained can be evaluated holistically and can form the basis for new and large-scale studies in the related field. At the same time, in this prospective study, the rates and characteristics of chronic postoperative pain development in liver living donors at the 3rd month after transplantation will be evaluated. Thus, this study will contribute to the limited literature on this subject. Research Hypotheses: H0a: Individualized pain education applied to living liver donors is not effective on the development of chronic postoperative pain. H1a: Individualized pain education applied to living liver donors is effective on the development of chronic postoperative pain. H0b: Individualized pain education applied to living liver donors is not effective on the quality of life of patients. H1b: Individualized pain education applied to living liver donors is effective on the quality of life of patients.

Effects of Oxycodone Combined With Pregabalin on Chronic Postsurgical Pain in Spinal Surgery

Chronic postoperative pain is one of the common perioperative complications, which seriously affects the prognosis of patients. Currently, no specific perioperative pain management strategy has been found to be effective in preventing and treating chronic postoperative pain in patients undergoing spinal surgery. At present, oxycodone has been widely recognized in different surgical populations for the control of acute postoperative pain, but its contribution to chronic postoperative pain remains unknown. Meanwhile, whether pregabalin can reduce the occurrence of chronic postoperative pain remains controversial, and whether the combination of the two drugs can control the occurrence of chronic postoperative pain in a more comprehensive way remains unknown. Therefore, we intend to conduct this randomized-controlled, factorial design study to determine the efficacy and safety of oxycodone combined with pregabalin in the treatment of chronic postoperative pain in patients undergoing spinal surgery.

Understanding the Acute Pain Phenotype in Patients Undergoing Surgery

The goal of this observational study is to learn about how regional anesthesia (numbing medication) affects pain in patients with different psychosocial phenotypes such as different levels of concern about pain, sleep issues, and anxiety, who are having surgery. The main questions are: 1. Do psychosocial factors such as concerns about pain, sleep, anxiety affect the effectiveness of regional anesthesia? 2. Do psychosocial factors and regional anesthesia affect the amount of opioids used after surgery? 3. Do psychosocial factors and regional anesthesia affect development of chronic postsurgical pain?