• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.271-274
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• 1996

Epidural hematoma during anticoagulant therapy is a rare complication of central neural blockade, but it may result in serious neurologic sequelae. A 61-year-old male receiving warfarin due to heart failure was referred to the pain clinic for control of severe herpetic neuralgia. Epidural catheterization was done at $T_{8-9}$ interspace. At that time, PT and aPTT were extremely prolonged. The next morning, severe back pain, motor paralysis and urinary difficulty developed. On spine MRI, epidural hematoma was detected at $T_{8-9}$ interspace. Four days later, he died due to underlying diseases. Central neural blockade in patient with anticoagulant therapy is contraindicated in most cases. If is undertaken, close observation of patients's neurologic functions and monitoring of coagulation profiles(PT, aPTT, etc) are necessary. If epidural hematoma develops, early surgical decompression is mandatory.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.59-66
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• 2011

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of electroacupuncture on pain threshold and 5-HT synthesis in raphe magnus nucleus of dog brain stem following nociception induced by 1% carageenan. Method: Twenty male dogs were randomly divided into two groups, a control group and an electroacupuncture group with the following parameters: ST36, LI11 and SP9 with 120Hz and 0.5mA. The dogs were sacrificed at 30, 60, 90, 120, 150 and 180 min after nociception using 1% carageenan injection into the plantar side of the dog's left leg. The pain threshold was recorded by an Analgesia-meter. After making brain slice sections, the tissues were immunostained with 5-HT antisera (1:2,500). Results: The pain threshold for the electroacupuncture group was higher than for the control group. The number of 5-HT immunoreactive neurons in the electroacupuncture group was greater than that of the control group. Differences between the two groups regarding the number of 5-HT immunoreactive neurons at 30 min and 60 min (p<0.05), at 120 min and 150 min (p<0.01), and at 8 days (p<0.05) were significant. Conclusion: The increases in pain threshold and number of 5-HT immunoreactive neurons in the raphe magnus nucleus of dog brain stem showed that electroacupuncture can attenuate pain transduction through the descending tract.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.505-510
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• 2013

Electroacupuncture (EA) is a modified form of acupuncture that utilizes electrical stimulation. We previously showed that EA stimulated rats were divided into responders that were sensitive to EA and non-responders that were insensitive to EA based on the tail flick latency (TFL) test. The dopamine beta-hydroxylase (DBH) gene was more abundantly expressed in the hypothalamus of responder rats than non-responder rats. To determine whether overexpression of DBH gene expression in the hypothalamus modulate EA analgesia, we constructed a DBH encoding adenovirus and which was then injected into the hypothalamus of SD rats. Microinjection of DBH or control GFP virus into the hypothalamus had no changes on the basal pain threshold measured by a TFL test without EA treatment. However, the analgesic effect of EA was significantly enhanced from seven days after microinjection of the DBH virus, but not after injection of the control GFP virus. DBH expression was significantly higher in the hypothalamus of DBH virus injected rat than control GFP virus or PBS injected rats. Moreover, expression of the DBH gene did not affect the body core temperature, body weight, motor function or learning and memory ability. Although the functional role of DBH in the hypothalamus in the analgesic effect of EA remains unclear, our findings suggest that expression of the DBH gene in the hypothalamus promotes EA analgesia without obvious side-effects.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.221-226
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• 1999

Background : Validity of WHO guideline of cancer pain management has been proven and many trials have been done to derive solutions for inadequate cancer pain management. We assessed the severity of pain of terminal cancer patients in a few different ways and patients' characteristics influencing inadequate pain management. Methods : This study was based on 100 adult oncological patients who were confirmed as terminal stage in our institution from 3/1998 to 11/1998. Medical records were reviewed and individual patients were interviewed to obtain demographic information and medical characteristics such as: daily activity performance, metastasis, and drug-adjusted pain severity. Adequacy of prescribed analgesics in accordance with WHO guidelines of pain management and patients' characteristics influencing adequacy of pain management were assessed. Results : Among those cancer patients diagnosed as terminal stage, 85% complained of pain, and 68% of those patients reported pain above moderate severity. 38% of those patients received inadequate pain management resulting in greater severity of pain; the less adequate pain relief was(p<0.01). Sex, age, primary cancer site metastasis, symptoms such as depression and anxiety, and daily activity performance were not significantly related. Conclusions : Despite WHO guidelines for pain management, majority of the terminal cancer patients received inadequate pain management. There is a necessity for education on proper pain evaluation and strict implimentation for WHO guidelines of pain management.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.221-228
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• 1992

The effect of epidural nalbuphine on pruritus, nausea, vomiting, voiding difficulties and/or analgesia induced by epidural morphine was determined in sixty Cesarian delivery patients. They were physical status 1 or 2 by ASA classification and randomly divided into three groups. They were administered morphine 3 mg only(group A), nalbuphine 5 mg with morphine 3 mg(group B), or nalbuphine 10 mg with morphine 3 mg(group C) at the time of peritoneal closure. During postoperative 24 hours their analgesic effects were evaluated by visual analogue scale(0~10). Respiratory rates, Trieger dot test and severity of side effects(0~2) were also evaluated. The results were as follows; 1) Analgesic duration of the first epidural administration was significantly long in group A than other groups, but there was no difference between that of group B and group C. 2) Pruritus was more severe in group A than other groups but the severity was decreased by increasing nalbuphine dosage. 3) Nausea and or vomiting was mild in group C and the incidence of nausea and/or vomiting combined with pruritus was decreased by increasing nalbuphine dosage. 4) Voiding difficulties was more severe in group A than other groups but the severity was not decreased by increasing nalbuphine dosage. 5) None of the patients had objective sedation or low respiration rate(< 10 times/minute). We concluded that epidural administration of nalbuphine 10 mg with morphine 3mg for post-Cesarean section pain management is one of good methods to reduce side effects induced by epidural morphine.

• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.351-359
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• 2004

Purpose: A descriptive study was conducted to examine the levels of distress, state anxiety, and physiologic responses in postoperative patients under patient controlled analgesia (PCA), and to determine correlations among the variables. Method: The study sample included women who underwent an elective hysterectomy procedure or other gynecologic surgeries(N=100). Subjective distress was assessed by visual analog scales around 8 hours postoperatively. Trained nurses collected objective distress data through observation of subject's behavior and vital signs. Data were analyzed with frequencies, percentages, means, Pearson correlation coefficients, ANOVA, and the Scheffe post test using SPSS/PC 11.0. Result: Subjective distress, objective distress, and state anxiety scores were relatively low, except pain scores(5.31 out of 10.0) among sub-scales of subjective distress. Women who had a total abdominal hysterectomy showed significantly higher levels of both subjective distress and state anxiety than those after a minor gynecologic surgery. In relationships among variables, subjective distress correlated positively with postoperative state anxiety, but not with the amount of analgesic medication, verified by further analysis on sub-scales of subjective and objective distress. The higher the levels of state anxiety, the higher the levels of tension, dyspnea, facial change, and systolic blood pressure observed. Conclusion: Regardless of effective pain management, most postoperatively experienced distress in gynecological patients was derived from surgery associated anxiety and pain. Specific psychological strategies should be established as well for those with high levels of state anxiety to facilitate prompt recovery.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.60-66
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• 1993

The clinical effects of epidural nalbuphine were compared to those of epidural morphine in sixty Cesarean delivery. They were physical status 1 or 2 by ASA classification and randomly divided into three groups. They were administered nalbuphine 5 mg(Group N5), nalbuphine 10 mg(Group N10) or morphine 3 mg(Group M3) through an indwelling epidural catheter at the time of peritoneal closure. During the first postoperative 24 hours, their analgesic effects were evaluated by visual analogue scale(0-10), respiration rates and Trieger dot test. The severity of side effects(0-2) was also evaluated. The results were as follows ; 1) The number of patients who needed additional epidural analgesics was least in group M3 (p<0.05). There was no significant difference between group N5 and group N10. 2) The duration between the first and second epidural administration was ; 19.2 hours in group M3, 8.6 hours in group N10 and 5.4 hours in group N5. There was a significant difference each group (p<0.05). 3) From the fourth post operative hour, both groups receiving nalbuphine showed a higher VAS score compared to group M3(p<0.05). 4) The incidence of pruritus, nausea, vomiting and voiding difficulty were more severe in group M3 compared with the other groups. However the severity did not increase with increasing nalbuphine dosage. 5) There were no patients showing objective sedation or low respiration rate(10 times/minute). We concluded that epidural administration of nalbuphine 5 mg or 10 mg is one way of post operative pain control. Its side effects were less than epidural morphine, but it is a less convenient in the method of analgesia.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.16 no.1 s.29
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• pp.36-50
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• 1995

Acupuncture is so effective and simple to use in the pain and dysfunction syndrome of TMD. Acupuncture treatment is a point-specific. So, the selection of acupuncture point is very important. According to the traditional meridian theory, we select the points; local points around TMJ and mastication muscles(ST6, ST7, GB20, GB21) and remote point(LI4). And if there is another pain, one or two other points are added. Both neural and humoral mechanism play an important role in acupuncture analgesia. The discovery of spinal gate mechanisms shows somatic stimulation can induce pain inhibition. Humoral mechanism has been established from the discovery of opioid receptors and endogenous opioids. Acupuncture induces a relaxation in the patient, which further decreases the muscle tension.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.344-348
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• 1996

Continuous epidural block can be useful in the management of acute and chronic pain. For the most effective analgesia, it is important to localize the tip of epidural catheter and the spread of radiopaque dye. Epidural catheterization was performed in 12 patients on the sitting position. Catheters were advanced by 10 cm cephalad in the cervical epidural space by median approach and radiopaque dye 3 ml was injected through the catheters. The position of cervical epidural catheters and the spread of dye was confirmed by radiography. The course of epidural catheter were: coiled 3/12 (25%), loop 2/12 (16.7%), straight 2/12 (16.7%). In 8 cases, the tip of epidural catheters were located within one vertebral segment from the level of insertion site. Radiopaque dye spreaded average 3.68 vertebral segment to cranially and 1.67 vertebral segment to caudally from the insertion site.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.255-258
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• 2000

Epidural morphine is effective in the treatment of postoperative pain, but side effects, such as nausea, vomiting, pruritus and urinary retention commonly occur. Droperidol is frequently used as an antiemetic to prevent intraoperative and postoperative vomiting. But it has been reported to cause acute extrapyramidal effects including dystonia. We report one case of acute dystonia in young adult following the use of epidural droperidol.