In the study, researchers used a questionnaire, called the Carolinas Comfort Scale, to assess quality of life with such questions as whether patients feel a "sensation of mesh" after surgery or pain or movement limitations during daily activities.
One vastly overused procedure is fusion surgery for back pain blamed on degenerated spinal discs.
The 6, 000-patient study was designed to show that AtheroGenics' drug, known by the code name AGI-1067, decreased the risk not only of heart attack, stroke and death but also of less important heart problems, including stent procedures, bypass surgery and chest pain.
Later that year, Clinton underwent heart bypass surgery after experiencing chest pain and shortness of breath.
CNN: In post-presidency, Clinton shows no signs of slowing down
Female patients who've gone through a transvaginal surgery usually complain of pain they normally feel during their period.
"Like a pitcher coming back from Tommy John (elbow surgery), throwing through pain isn't a good idea, " Teixeira said.
Suffering from Crohn's disease can mean debilitating pain, fistula surgery and diarrhea that can be so severe it can bring on dehydration.
CNN: Living with Crohn's disease: 'Today I will fight again'
If a back surgery increases rather than alleviates pain, do the cost-cutters out there really think that surgeons are going to deliberately maim patients?
FORBES: We Probably Spend Too Little On Health Care (Unless You're Peter Orszag)
Aggressive strategies for pain relief, like surgery, are expensive and risky, and they often don't help.
Patients taking 80 milligrams of Lipitor were 16% less likely to die, have a heart attack, undergo bypass or angioplasty surgery, or develop worsening chest pain than those taking 40 milligrams of Pravachol.
Not all hernias require immediate surgery, especially when there is no pain or disruption to daily activities.
She says resting with the cushions under her arms helped ease the pain and give support after surgery.
But most back surgeries--and back surgery devices--exist to ease pain, not save lives.
While Joe Ledley is playing through the pain barrier as he needs hip surgery.
This follows limited but successful testing in Brazil, where patients who underwent surgery with TranS1 catheters had no postoperative back pain and now lead active lives.
That said, a patient like Clinton, who was already on heart drugs, had had bypass surgery, and was suffering from severe chest pain, would almost always wind up getting a stent.
The study, which the researchers believe is the first systematic review of literature on the subject, finds that the technique may be effective in alleviating pain either during or after dental surgery.
"It's increasing our range of motion, decreasing our pain that we have after breast cancer surgery and increasing our strength, " Binkley said.
CNN: Ancient Chinese sport helps modern breast cancer survivors
The new treatment offers particular promise in patients who suffer from chest pain but for whom angioplasty or bypass surgery is no longer an option.
He has a heart condition that first required surgery in 1995, as well as chronic back pain that originated from a car accident 50 years ago.
When that stent caused her pain, doctors removed it in a fourth surgery.
Studies show that patients undergoing minimally invasive surgery have a quicker recovery and less short-term pain than with open repair.
Spinal fusion surgery is a last-ditch treatment for severe back pain.
In addition, 84 percent of those who had the surgery reported at least a 50 percent reduction in migraine pain compared with just 58 percent in the sham group.
Though no one tracks the total number of noninvasive or minimally invasive surgeries across the board, medical device makers say the trend is similar for other types of surgery as well--be it to relieve back pain, implant coronary stents, or shrink the stomachs of very obese people.
The pain went away 10 weeks after getting the placebo surgery, she says.
Nearly a week after the actual surgery, and having eaten several meals, I developed severe pain in my abdomen.
Overall, 2.7 million Americans get some kind of back surgery each year, while another 21 million people with back pain use nonsurgical treatments.
应用推荐