neuropsychological assessment in pain management

INTRODUCTION: People with persistent pain experience problems modifying their cognition and behaviours when task or environmental demands change - abilities otherwise known as cognitive flexibility . However, limitations and inconsistent results of previous studies raise concerns over the quality of that evidence. We aimed to determine whether people with and without persistent pain differ on two assessments that are commonly used to assess cognitive flexibility. We also examined the relationship between the two assessments and explored whether people with and without persistent pain are distinguishable based on their scores on these assessments...

OBJECTIVES: Fatigue is common in patients with chronic pain. Still, there is a lack of studies examining objectively measurable cognitive aspects of fatigue: cognitive fatigability (CF). We aimed to investigate the presence of CF in patients with chronic pain and its relation to self-rated fatigue, attention, pain characteristics, sleep disturbance, depression, and anxiety. METHODS: Two hundred patients with chronic pain and a reference group of 36 healthy subjects underwent a comprehensive neuropsychological test battery, including measurement of CF with the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-III Coding subtest, and self-assessment of trait and state fatigue...

BACKGROUND: Extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (ECPR) for selected refractory out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is increasingly used. Detailed knowledge of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and long-term cognitive function is limited. HRQoL and cognitive function were assessed in ECPR-survivors and OHCA-survivors with prehospital return of spontaneous circulation after standard advanced cardiac life support (sACLS). METHODS: Fifteen ECPR-survivors and 22 age-matched sACLS-survivors agreed to participate in this follow-up study...

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to synthesize the available knowledge of identifying hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) symptoms and symptom clusters in patients with HCC and instruments used for these assessments to maximize symptom management. METHODS: Whittemore and Knafl's integrative review method was employed to guide a systematic search for literature in five databases (PubMed, ScienceDirect, Scopus, CINAHL, and ThaiJO). The retrieved articles were limited to those which were peer-reviewed, published between 2005 and 2022, and had English abstracts...

OBJECTIVE: Migraine is commonly overlooked by the general population and by professionals in research and clinical practice. Moreover, it is difficult to grasp the neuropsychological profile of migraineurs due to the cyclic nature of the disorder. With this in mind, a scoping review of the literature was conducted with the goal of characterizing cognitive domains associated with deficits in migraine. METHODS: PubMed, PsychInfo, Scopus, EMBASE and OpenGrey databases were searched for studies published from 1st January 2006 to 30th November 2022...

BACKGROUND: There has been growing clinical awareness in recent years of the long-term physical and psychological consequences of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, known as Long COVID. The prevalence of Long COVID is approximately 10% of those infected by the virus. Long COVID is associated with physical and neuropsychological symptoms, including those related to mental health, psychological wellbeing, and cognition. However, research on psychological interventions is still in its early stages, in which means that available results are still limited...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Medical cannabis use is increasing in Australia and other jurisdictions, yet little is known about the effects of medical cannabis on cognitive function. Findings from studies of non-medical ('recreational') cannabis may not be applicable to patients using prescribed medical cannabis to manage a health condition. METHODS: In this semi-naturalistic, open-label trial, patients with various health conditions attended a single laboratory session in which they self-administered a standard dose of prescribed medical cannabis as per instructions on the pharmacy label...

CONTEXT: Pain is a poorly managed aspect in fibrous dysplasia/McCune-Albright Syndrome (FD/MAS) due to uncertainties regarding the clinical, behavioral, and neurobiological underpinnings that contribute to pain in these patients. OBJECTIVE: Identify neuropsychological and neurobiological factors associated pain severity in FD/MAS. DESIGN: Prospective, single-site study. PATIENTS: 20 FD/MAS patients and 16 age-sex matched healthy controls (HCs)...

OBJECTIVE: Chronic musculoskeletal pain (CMP) poses a considerable threat to physical, mental, and financial health worldwide. Beyond physical difficulties, CMP has a pronounced impact on pain behaviors and cognitive function. The purpose of this scoping review was to examine the relationship between pain catastrophizing (PC) and cognitive function in CMP, identify gaps in the literature, and provide future directions for research on the topic. METHODS: Search strings were entered in the following databases: PubMed, CINAHL, Nursing and Allied Health, Ovid Emcare, PsycInfo, and Scopus...

The incidence of pediatric solid organ transplantation (SOT) has increased in recent decades due to medical and surgical advances as well as improvements in organ procurement. Survival rates for pediatric kidney, liver, and heart transplantation are above 85% but patients continue to experience complex healthcare needs over their lifetime. Long-term developmental and neuropsychological sequelae are becoming increasingly recognized in this population, although preliminary work is limited and deserves further attention...

BACKGROUND: We examined whether there are racial disparities in pain management, opioid medicine prescriptions, symptom severity, and quality of life constructs in breast cancer survivors. METHODS: We conducted a secondary analysis of longitudinal data from the Women's Hormonal Therapy Initiation and Persistence (WHIP) study (n = 595), a longitudinal study of hormonal receptor-positive breast cancer survivors. Upon study enrollment, patients completed a survey assessing an array of psychological, behavioral, and treatment outcomes, including adjuvant endocrine therapy (AET)-induced symptoms, and provided a saliva biospecimen...

BACKGROUND: Emotional distress can lead to suicidal ideation and potentially suicide completion, yet there is very little literature on suicidal ideation in individuals with a diagnosis of neurofibromatosis (NF; NF1, NF2, and schwannomatosis). OBJECTIVE: To examine the baseline occurrence, severity, and clinical correlates of suicidal ideation in adults with NF. METHOD: Individuals with NF (N = 220) completed assessments measuring depression (Patient Health Questionnaire-9), anxiety (Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7), perceived stress (Perceived Stress Scale-10), pain (Graded Chronic Pain Scale and PROMIS Pain Interference Short Form 8a), and general quality of life (World Health Organization Quality of Life-Brief version) before beginning a two-arm, single-blind randomized control trial of a live-video mind-body program for stress management and resiliency...

BACKGROUND: Dyspnea is common and severe in intensive care unit (ICU) patients managed for acute respiratory failure. Dyspnea appears to be associated with impaired prognosis and neuropsychological sequels. Pain and dyspnea share many similarities and previous studies have shown the benefit of morphine on dyspnea in patients with end-stage onco-hematological disease and severe heart or respiratory disease. In these populations, morphine administration was safe. Here, we hypothesize that low-dose opioids may help to reduce dyspnea in patients admitted to the ICU for acute respiratory failure...

Objectives: A significant number of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) have depression, and many are untreated. We aim to assess the frequency of moderate to severe depression (MSD) in a multiethnic group of SLE patients with different sociodemographic backgrounds, identify modifiable factors associated with depression, and determine the impact of depression, disease activity, damage, cognitive function, and pain severity on health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Methods: Ninety-nine patients with SLE were evaluated in a cross-sectional study...

OBJECTIVE: The present study examined coping style as a possible moderator in the relationship between pain and depression in persons with multiple sclerosis (PwMS). METHODS: Fifty-four PwMS completed a comprehensive neuropsychological test battery and psychosocial questionnaires that assessed physical, cognitive, and emotional functioning. Using four pain indices (i.e., average pain, current pain, pain intensity, and pain interference) from the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI), an overall pain index was created to capture a more comprehensive index of individuals' overall pain intensity and interference...

To date, there are no behavioral or psychophysiological treatment studies on paroxysmal dyskinesia (PD). PD is a group of debilitating movement disorders that present with severe episodes of dystonia, chorea, and/or ballistic like movements. This is a first case report of a 50-year-old male who received behavioral interventions (e.g., mindfulness, CBT, and biofeedback interventions) to manage his PD episodes in tandem with multidisciplinary treatments (e.g., neurology, psychiatry, etc.). The paper primarily discusses the serendipitous observation of galvanic skin response (GSR) elevations and spikes immediately before and after the onset of PD episodes...

Objectives: Primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) is a systemic disease which, along with bone and stone disease, also causes several subjective symptoms which impairs the quality of life (QoL). However, NIH guidelines do not include non-specific physical and neuropsychological symptoms as an indication of parathyroidectomy. SF-36 is one of the most commonly used tools for assessing QoL; it measures both physical health (PH) and mental health (MH). Material and Methods: This is a prospective observational study including 50 patients of symptomatic PHPT...

Endometriosis is a multifactorial disease with pathophysiological factors not yet well known; it also presents a wide symptomatic range that makes us think about the need for multidisciplinary management. It is a chronic disease in which there is no definitive treatment, and is associated in a large majority of cases with psychological pathology. Connecting comorbidities and multimorbidities on a neurobiological, neuropsychological, and pathophysiological level could significantly contribute to their more successful prevention and treatment...

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to evaluate cognitive function in individuals with chronic neck pain (CNP) and investigate the effects of different variables on cognition. METHODS: The sociodemographic characteristics of the individuals who participated in this study were recorded. Pain intensity of the individuals was evaluated using the Visual Analog Scale, pain-related disability was evaluated with the Neck Disability Index and cognitive function was evaluated using Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA)...

BACKGROUND: Cluster headache is an excruciating disorder with no cure. Greater occipital nerve blockades can transiently suppress attacks in approximately 50% of patients, however, its mechanism of action remains uncertain, and there are no reliable predictors of treatment response. To address this, we investigated the effect of occipital nerve blockade on regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF), an index of brain activity, and differences between treatment responders and non-responders. Finally, we compared baseline perfusion maps from patients to a matched group of healthy controls...