The treatment of chronic pain with medicinal cannabis in this open-label, prospective cohort resulted in improved pain and functional outcomes, and a significant reduction in opioid use. Results suggest long-term benefit of cannabis treatment in this group of patients, but the study's noncontrolled nature should be considered when extrapolating the results.

This novel liposomal formulation had a favorable drug-to-phospholipid ratio and prolonged the duration of bupivacaine analgesia in a dose-dependent manner. If these results in healthy volunteers can be duplicated in the clinical setting, this formulation has the potential to significantly impact the management of pain.

The present study demonstrates that local cutaneous administration of either the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) glutamate receptor antagonist MK-801 or the non-NMDA glutamate receptor antagonist 6-cyano-7-nitroquinoxaline-2,3-dione (CNQX) significantly attenuates formalin-induced nociceptive behaviors. Specifically, pretreatment with either drug reduced the magnitude and time course of lifting and licking behavior in the late phase of formalin pain; however, flinching behavior was not affected. In contrast, post-treatment of formalin pain with either antagonist did not affect lifting and licking behavior, although flinching behavior was mildly attenuated. We hypothesize that these actions result from blocking of peripheral glutamate receptors located on unmyelinated axons at the dermal-epidermal junction. These data suggest that peripheral glutamate receptors on cutaneous axons can be manipulated to reduce certain aspects of pain of peripheral origin. This route of administration offers the advantage of avoiding the side effects of systemic administration.

PI was an earlier, clearer and more sensitive indicator of the development of epidural-induced sympathectomy than either skin temperature or MAP.

The authors' data indicate that compared with conventional analgesia, early administration of continuous epidural analgesia is associated with a lower incidence of preoperative adverse cardiac events in elderly patients with hip fracture who have or are at risk for coronary artery disease. Preoperative epidural analgesia may be advantageous for this surgical population.