Anesthesiologists Study Pain Relief in Breast Cancer Surgery, Labor

Tags: analgesic | anesthesiology | breast cancer | capsaicin | chronic pain | labor

Two recent studies in Anesthesiology looked at pain relief; one studied chronic pain after breast cancer surgery and the second the connection between capsaicin and labor pain, according to News-Wise.

French researchers looked to determine whether reducing pain shortly after surgery would result in reduced chronic pain development later on. Of the 230 patients examined, 33 percent treated with a local anesthetic had their acute post-surgical pain reduced by half. However, even patients with lowered acute pain did not experience a decrease in the incidence of chronic pain at three months.

The second studied labor pain in mice with the topical application of capsaicin. Researchers found the analgesia statistically decreased pain for various stages of labor. Thus, capsaicin may be used as a minimally invasive, natural adjunct to induction of labor.

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