Trigeminal neuralgia associated with ophthalmic surgery: a case series

Trigeminal neuralgia is a rare cause of postoperative pain after ophthalmic surgery and has only been described twice in the international literature: one case of pain after vitrectomy with a crystalline lens ...

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Corneal Blood Staining after Complicated Cataract Surgery

Purpose: To report the case of a patient with corneal blood staining after a complicated cataract surgery. Observations: We report on a 68-year-old woman who developed corneal blood staining secondary to hyphema after cataract surgery, despite the fact that intraocular pressure was not increased for a prolonged time. The corneal staining spontaneously cleared from the periphery towards the center. It was fully resolved after 2.5 years of follow-up. Conclusions and Importance: In case of hyphema induced by cataract surgery, performance of early anterior chamber washout should be considered to prevent corneal blood staining and poor visual outcome.
Case Rep Ophthalmol 2018;9:421–424

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The Impact of Tobacco Cigarette Smoking on Spinal Cord Stimulation Effectiveness in Chronic Spine–Related Pain Patients

Background and Objectives Despite the observation that select nicotine receptor agonists have analgesic effects, smokers report higher pain scores and more functional impairments than lifelong nonsmokers, attributable to exaggerated stress responses, receptor desensitization, and altered pharmacokinetics compounded by accelerated structural damage resulting from impaired bone healing, osteoporosis, and advancement of disk disease. We hypothesized that smoking diminishes the analgesic response to spinal cord stimulation (SCS) in patients with chronic spine–related pain conditions. Methods A retrospective cohort study was performed at Cleveland Clinic by collecting and assessing data of 213 patients who had been implanted with SCS for spine-pain indications. History of tobacco smoking was subcategorized into 3 categories: past (former smoker), present (current smoker), or those who had never previously smoked (lifelong nonsmokers), and a multivariable linear regression was run to measure the correlation, if any, between smoking status and numerical rating scale pain score. In addition, opioid consumption at baseline and 12-month follow-up, expressed in milligram oral morphine equivalents, was collected and compared. Results Adjusted for differences, at 1-year follow-up, current smokers (n = 62) reported numerical rating scale pain score of 7.0, which is 1.93 (P

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