Scroll Up
Scroll Down
Play Play Play Play
Unregistered User
Click here if this is not your Personal Edition
 
Contact Us | Free E-Mail Updates | Journals | Register a colleague
 
 
Back Pain
 
   
 
SEARCH   
Doctor's Guide Free CME
Medline
Congress Resource Centre
 

 EXPLORE :
   Most Read News
 All News  All News
 All Webcasts / CME  All Webcasts / CME
 All Cases  All Cases
 Congress Resource Centre  Congress Resource Centre
 All Medical Resources  All Medical Resources
 Medical  My Personal Edition



Warning | Privacy

 

 
 Recent news - Back Pain
    TopAbstracts in Back Pain 11/19/2008 - (DGNews)
    TopAbstracts in Back Pain 10/22/2008 - (DGNews)
    Facet Joint Effusion, Interspinal Ligament Oedema Are Major Sources of Lower Back Pain - (DGNews)
    TopAbstracts in Back Pain 09/24/2008 - (DGNews)
    Postmenopausal Women With Severe Osteoporosis Achieve Reduced Back Pain With Teriparatide: Presented at ASBMR - (DGDispatch)

    News archive

     Recent webcasts/CME - Back Pain
      Caring for Patients Who Have Chronic Low Back Pain
      Caring for Patients Who Have Acute and Subacute Low Back Pain
      Back Pain: Acute Low Back Pain in Adults

      Webcasts/CME archive

       Recent cases - Back Pain
        Achondroplasia Manifesting as Enchondromatosis and Ossification of the Spinal Ligaments: A Case Report
        Chronic Contained Rupture of an Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm with Vertebral Erosion
        Epidural Abscess: The Importance of Re-Imaging
        Disseminated Tubercular Osteitis
        Intramedullary Spinal Cysticercosis Simulating a Conus Medullaris Tumor: Case Report

        Cases archive
          




        my personal edition > back pain > news
        divider

          E-Mail this DGDispatch to a colleague

        DGDispatch


        Pamidronate Shows Potential in Chronic Back Pain: Presented at AAPM

        By Jill Stein
        Special to DG News

        NEW ORLEANS, LA -- February 21, 2003 -- Treatment with intravenous pamidronate may help decrease chronic, debilitating mechanical spine pain, according to results presented here on February 20th at the 19th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Pain Medicine.

        Dr. Marco Pappagallo and colleagues at New York University School of Medicine in administered, on a compassionate basis, 90 mg infusions of the bisphosphonate pamidronate over 4 hours to 25 patients. All patients had three infusions, with a 4-week interval between infusions.

        The study was prompted by earlier research showing that pamidronate has a palliative analgesic effect in metastatic bone pain, Dr. Pappagallo pointed out. Bisphosphonate treatment has also been reported effective in a variety of painful conditions not associated with cancer or osteoarthritis, including ankylosing spondylitis, complex regional pain syndrome, inflammatory bone and joint conditions, rheumatoid arthritis and visceral pain in animals.

        He noted that it is also possible that mechanisms that cause cancer-related and non-cancer spinal pain are similar.

        In the present study, all patients rated their pain on a 0-10 numeric scale, where 0 indicated a complete absence of pain and 10 referred to the worst conceivable pain.

        To assess the alleviation of pain associated with pamidronate treatment, the investigators compared pain scores noted before the first infusion to those reported 1 month after the last monthly infusion.

        Twenty three of the 25 patients had a change in pain intensity during the study; 91% reported an improvement/decrease in pain via the numeric rating scale. The mean numeric rating scale decrease was 3.6 points, and the mean percentage reduction in numeric rating scale scores was 41% (p<0.0001).

        In addition, 78% reported an absolute reduction in the numeric rating scale pain score of at least 2 points. In 57%, the percentage reduction in numeric rating pain scale scores was at least 30%.

        No patient showed any signs or complaints suggestive of hypocalcaemia. Post- infusion laboratory blood tests showed no relevant changes from baseline.

        While the researchers did not document whether patients developed discomfort, they estimated that 10% of subjects experienced discomfort at the intravenous site, which subsided in 1 to 15 days, and 40% to 50% developed mild diffuse body aches and transient fever after treatment.

        Dr. Pappagallo's team called for a randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blind study to substantiate the benefits of pamidronate treatment in chronic mechanical spine pain seen in this study.


        [Study title: A Pilot Trial of Intravenous Pamidronate for chronic Mechanical Spine Pain]



        E-Mail this DGDispatch to a colleague   To print, use this version






        All contents Copyright (c) 1995-2008 Doctor's Guide Publishing Limited. All rights reserved.



        The NTK initiative. Physicians helping physicians identify Need-To-Know science
           Feedback
        Please rate this article: Strongly DISAGREE...Strongly AGREE NTK logo
        Question 1 - Physicians need to become aware of this information as soon as possible. Question 2 - This information is likely to have an impact on the way physicians practice medicine.
        1
        2
        3
        4
        5
        6
        7
        Send