Although pain experiences differed among participants, all participants reported decreased pain with ketamine infusions. Addressing the stigma associated with ketamine infusions, further research around augmenting durability of ketamine, and providing a safe treatment environment can all improve ketamine's benefit for chronic neuropathic pain. Understanding the barriers and facilitators, as...
Nitrous oxide may possess antidepressant effects; however, limited data exist on repeated administrations and active placebo-controlled studies in treatment-resistant depression (TRD). We aimed to test the feasibility of a randomised controlled trial examining a 4-week course of nitrous oxide or midazolam, an active placebo. In this randomised, active, placebo-controlled pilot trial, 40...
Emerging evidence suggests that 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA)-assisted psychotherapy may be a promising intervention for chronic pain. We designed the Ecstasy for Alleviating Severe Chronic Neuropathic Pain (EASE-Pain) trial, a randomized controlled trial comparing MDMA with an active placebo (methylphenidate) for pain relief. We sought to conduct a prospective preference assessment...
Chronic pain affects approximately 8 million Canadians (~20%), impacting their physical and mental health while burdening the health care system with costs of upwards of US $60 billion a year. Indeed, patients are often trialed on numerous medications over several years without reductions to their symptoms. Therefore, there is an urgent need to identify new therapies for chronic pain to improve...
Nitrous oxide has shown potentially as an efficacious intervention for treatment-resistant depression, yet there remains insufficient evidence pertaining to repeated administration of nitrous oxide over time and active placebo-controlled studies with optimal blinding. Thus, we aim to examine the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of a six-week follow up study examining the effects of a 4 week...
Sandra J Drozdz,1 Akash Goel,1â 3 Matthew W McGarr,4 Joel Katz,3,5â 7 Paul Ritvo,5,7 Gabriella F Mattina,1 Venkat Bhat,8â 10 Calvin Diep,3 Karim S Ladha1,3,10 1Department of Anesthesia, St. Michaelâs Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada; 2Department of Anesthesiology, Pain and Perioperative Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA; 3Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine,...