Long-Lasting Nerve Block Changing Pain Management? | Arthritis Information
Long-Lasting Nerve Block Could Change Pain Management - Injectable Local Anesthetic Shows Promise For Prolonged Pain Relief Without Toxicity
Researchers at Children's Hospital Boston have developed a slow-release anesthetic drug-delivery system that could potentially revolutionize treatment of pain during and after surgery, and may also have a large impact on chronic pain management. In NIH-funded work, they used specially designed fat-based particles called liposomes to package saxitoxin, a potent anesthetic, and produced long-lasting local anesthesia in rats without apparent toxicity to nerve or muscle cells. The research will be published online during the week of April 13-17 by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"The idea was to have a single injection that could produce a nerve block lasting days, weeks, maybe even months," explains Daniel Kohane, MD, PhD, of the Division of Critical Care Medicine in the Department of Anesthesiology at Children's, and the report's senior author. "It would be useful for conditions like chronic pain where, rather than use narcotics, which are systemic and pose a risk of addiction, you could just put that piece of the body to sleep, so to speak."
Nerve blocks have been a lifesaver for me. I see my pain dr. every six weeks. They have allowed me to take smaller amounts of painkillers and still work full time.[QUOTE=rocckyd]Nerve blocks have been a lifesaver for me. I see my pain dr. every six weeks. They have allowed me to take smaller amounts of painkillers and still work full time.[/QUOTE]
Thanks so much for sharing your experiences
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