Search

Retroperitoneal fibrosis is a connective disease of the auto-inflammatory/auto-immune type of the retroperitoneum with unknown etiology and pathological mechanism. The manifestations of the pathology can be local or systemic. Amongst the local symptoms, the dull and constant pain in the hips, back or abdomen is the most frequent. We report here a case of a 47-year-old woman, whose pathogenic mechanism could be related to an "IgG4-related disease" disorder as suggested by an increased serum level of this subclass of IgG and the positive immunohistochemistry. The diagnosis is not easy, because this pathology generates masses; adenomegalies with retro peritoneal development, that makes it similar to lymphomas or metastases from ovarian tumors., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest (political, personal, religious, ideological, academic, intellectual, commercial or any other) to declare in relation to this manuscript., (© 2020 Antonello Sica et al., published by De Gruyter.)

The prevalence of chronic pain is between 33% to 64% and is due to cancer pain, but it has also been observed in non-cancer patients. Chronic pain is associated with lower quality of life and higher psychological distress and depressive/anxiety disorders in patients without a history of disorder. In this study we evaluated in clinical practice the effectiveness of the intrathecal pump in 140 patients who underwent pain therapy at our Center. These patients were consecutively enrolled from January 2010 to July 2018. Follow-up was carried out over these eight years regarding the infusion modalities. Pain relief was obtained in 71 (50,7%) patients out of the 140 that experienced satisfactory pain control globally. Intrathecal therapy is one of the best options for chronic severe refractory pain. The greatest advantage of this therapy is due to the possibility of treating the pain with minimal dosages of the drug, avoiding the appearance of troublesome side effects., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors of the manuscript declare that they have no conflicts of interest in connection with this paper., (© 2019 Antonello Sica et al. published by De Gruyter.)