pain-relief-12.matches: pain relief
An investigation into the use of aromatherapy in intrapartum midwifery practice.

Burns EE, Blamey C, Ersser SJ, Barnetson L, Lloyd AJ.

Oxford Centre for Health Care Research and Development Oxford Brookes University, United Kingdom.

OBJECTIVE: The principal aim of the study was to examine the contribution of aromatherapy to the promotion of maternal comfort during labor and as a tool to improve the quality of midwifery care. DESIGN: Evaluative study. SETTING: Delivery suite in a large British teaching hospital with approximately 6,500 deliveries per annum. SUBJECTS: A total of 8,058 mothers were evaluated between 1990 and 1998. INTERVENTIONS: Women were offered aromatherapy to relieve anxiety, pain, nausea and/or vomiting or to strengthen contractions. Routine data collected on the use of aromatherapy over the period were analyzed. Data from the unit audit were used to provide a comparison group of mothers not given aromatherapy (n = 15,799) from the study center. OUTCOME MEASURES: Outcome measures include mothers' ratings of effectiveness, outcomes of labor, use of pharmacologic pain relief, uptake of intravenous oxytocin, reported associated symptoms, and annual costs. RESULTS: The use of aromatherapy during childbirth was an increasingly popular care option with mothers and midwives. More than 50% of mothers rated it as helpful, and only 14% found it unhelpful. The use of aromatherapy was not confined to low-risk mothers. Sixty percent of the sample were primigravidae, and 32% overall had had their labor induced. The administration of aromatherapy in childbirth did appear to reduce the need for additional pain relief in a proportion of mothers. More than 8% of primigravidae and 18% of multigravidae used no conventional pain relief during labor after using essential oils. During the years of the study, the use of pethidine in the study center declined from 6% to 0.2% of women. The study also showed that aromatherapy may have the potential to augment labor contractions for women in dysfunctional labour. A very low number of associated adverse symptoms were reported (1%). CONCLUSION: This study represents a successful example of the integration of a complementary therapy into mainstream midwifery practice and forms a basis for future research.

Online source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=10784271&dopt=Abstract pain, pain medicine, pain relief



pain-relief-31.matches: pain relief
Long term results of pancreaticojejunostomy in chronic pancreatitis.

Holmberg JT, Isaksson G, Ihse I.

Fifty-one consecutive pancreaticojejunostomies for pain in chronic pancreatitis performed during the years 1964 to 1983 have been reviewed. Mean observation time was 8.2 years. Information on alcohol consumption, pain intensity and clinical signs of pancreatic dysfunction was recorded at regular intervals. Operative mortality was nil. Analysis showed no difference between alcohol abusers and other patients with regard to calcification, ductal dilation or exocrine and endocrine insufficiency. Good to excellent pain relief was achieved in 65 per cent of abusers and 88 per cent of nonabusers and was stable for at least five years. Patients who are heavy and unremitting abusers did not get much pain relief as a result of the operation. Patency of the anastomosis does not seem to be crucial for pain relief after pancreaticojejunostomy.

Online source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=2580360&dopt=Abstract pain, pain medicine, pain relief



pain-relief-31.matches: pain relief
Sacral acupuncture for pain relief in labour: initial clinical experience in Nigerian women.

Umeh BU.

Sacral acupuncture was used for pain relief during labour in 30 pregnant Nigerian women. It produced clinically adequate analgesia in 19 women (63.3%). 6 women in this group (31.6%) reported that they had experienced no pain whatsoever throughout the period of labour and delivery (average duration - 8 hours). 11 women (36.7%) had no pain relief and required pethidine injection when sacral acupuncture proved ineffective. 24 women (80%), including 5 who did not obtain relief, indicated their wish to have sacral acupuncture during their next confinement. 2 women (6.7%) objected to needling, 3 considered acupuncture useless while another 2 did not believe in it. The patients' cardio-respiratory functions and uterine contractions were not adversely affected. There were no untoward effects on the mothers or their neonates. The procedure was technically simple, the equipment light and cheap. The needles did not interfere with nursing or obstetric manouvres. The procedure was however time consuming. The results were inconsistent and unpredictable. Despite these limitations, the simplicity, cheapness and absence of physiological complications associated with the procedure, make it a worthwhile medical armament for pain relief in the Nigerian environment, with limited resources and specialized manpower.

Online source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=2879417&dopt=Abstract pain, pain medicine, pain relief



pain-relief-31.matches: pain relief
Patient-controlled analgesia with piritramid for the treatment of postoperative pain.

Lehmann KA, Tenbuhs B, Hoeckle W.

Patient-controlled analgesia (PCA, intravenous self-application of narcotics) was studied during the early postoperative period. Subjects were 40 ASA I-III patients recovering from elective major and minor surgery (20 each having undergone abdominal or orthopedic operations). Whenever the patients required pain relief, piritramid demand doses of 2.0 mg were given via the hand-button of a microprocessor-controlled injection pump (On-Demand Analgesia Computer, ODAC). Hourly maximum dose was set to 15 mg with a pump refractory time of 1 minute between valid demands. A continuous low-dose piritramid infusion (0.24 mg/h) was additionally administered in order to prevent catheter obstruction. Duration of the PCA period was 19.7 +/- 6.5 hours (mean +/- SD). During this time, 17.1 +/- 13.8 demands per patient were recorded resulting in mean individual piritramid consumptions of 30.4 +/- 28.1 micrograms/kg/h. Self-administration was characterized by considerable intra- and interindividual variability. Following abdominal surgery, slightly more piritramid was needed compared with orthopedic patients, although less pain relief was achieved in the former group. The same proved to be true for a comparison between the sexes, males requiring significantly more piritramide for less pain relief than females (p = 0.05). Over-all efficacy and patient acceptance proved to be excellent. Effectiveness of PCA was judged superior by about 73% of patients when compared with previously experienced conventional postoperative analgesia. Side effects (sweating, nausea, emesis) occurred in about 20% but were usually of minor intensity. No serious circulatory or respiratory problems were observed during the PCA period. Patient-controlled analgesia is discussed as a promising concept for the treatment of acute pain and for clinical pain research.

Online source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=2882642&dopt=Abstract pain, pain medicine, pain relief



pain-relief-31.matches: pain relief
On-demand nalbuphine for post-operative pain relief.

Kay B, Krishnan A.

Twenty-five patients with moderate to severe pain after major upper abdominal surgery chose to receive nalbuphine on demand from a Cardiff Palliator for pain relief. An initial i.v. injection of nalbuphine 20 mg was followed by 5 mg given over 90s in response to each successful demand. A maximum of 20 doses (100 mg) hr-1 of nalbuphine was available, plus additional bolus doses. Twelve patients obtained good pain relief and completed the 5 hour observation period. 13 patients withdrew from the study, 8 because of inadequate pain relief and 2 because of side-effects. At least half the patients who complained of inadequate pain relief at the time had no subsequent memory of the events. Despite high dosage in some cases (up to 200 mg in an hour) no clinically important cardiovascular or respiratory effects were observed.

Online source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=3010627&dopt=Abstract pain, pain medicine, pain relief



pain-relief-31.matches: pain relief
Long-term follow-up study of rostral mesencephalic reticulotomy for pain relief--report of 34 cases.

Amano K, Kawamura H, Tanikawa T, Kawabatake H, Notani M, Iseki H, Shiwaku T, Nagao T, Iwata Y, Taira T, et al.

A long-term follow-up study of rostral mesencephalic reticulotomy (RMR) for pain relief is presented. 34 patients (24 males and 10 females) were operated. Ages ranged from 18 to 65 years. The follow-up period was 1-70 months. The overall effectiveness of RMR showed good relief of pain in 23 patients (67%). The study of effectiveness of RMR according to type of pain showed good relief of pain in 5 out of 6 patients (83%) with nondenervation pain, whereas satisfactory pain relief was obtained in 18 out of 28 patients (64%) with denervation pain.

Online source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=3827237&dopt=Abstract pain, pain medicine, pain relief



pain-relief-12.matches: pain relief
[The clinical study on labor pain relief using two kinds of segmental block anesthesia]

[Article in Chinese]

Zhang Z, Zhang Y, Bi L.

Qingdao Municipal Mother and Child Health Care Center.

OBJECTIVE: To study the pain relief effectiveness of combined subarachnoid peridural segmental block and simple peridural anesthesia, and their influences on the mothers and the infants. METHODS: 100 pregnants women were administered combined subarachnoid and peridural segmental block during labor and delivery (study group). 40 pregnant women received simple peridural anesthesia (control group). The degree of labour pain, side effects, labor course, the mode of delivery and the incidences of postpartum hemorrhage, fetal distress and neonatal asphyxia were observed in two groups respectively. RESULTS: The pain relief effect in the study group was much better than that of the control group (P < 0.01). There were no significant differences of the mean time of labor course and the mode of delivery between the two groups (P > 0.05). The incidences of postpartum hemorrhage, fetal distress and neonatal asphyxia were similar (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: The analgesic delivery of combined subarachnoid and peridural segmental block is safe and effective, which has no influences on the labour course and the mothers and infants. Its pain relief effectiveness is more positive and satisfactory than that of simple peridural anesthesia. We suggest that it should be performed in the medical units under optimal conditions.

Online source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=10806697&dopt=Abstract pain, pain medicine, pain relief