DISPENSARY CORNER 11 Dec 15
December 11, 2015
A BRITISH researcher has
managed to gain a unique insight
into pain management with the
help of a 39-year-old woman who
hasn’t ever felt any.
The female patient suffers from
congenital insensitivity to pain
(CIP), an extremely rare genetic
disorder that prevents messages
of physical suffering such as a
sting, a bruise, a bite or a burn
from reaching the consciousness.
Given the important role of pain
in alerting to danger such as a
burn, the condition is generally
very difficult to live with.
Neurobiologist John Wood of
University College London helped
the patient experience pain for
the first time by using a laser
beam and a dose of the opioid
antagonist naloxone.
By reverse engineering the
experience, the scientist identified
what he’s called the “secret
ingredient” in painlessness,
namely a combination of opioid
peptides and drugs that block
communication channels between
the body and the brain, known as
Nav1.7 channels.
CHEMOTHERAPY cooling-cap.
The US Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) has
approved for marketing the first
“cooling cap” to reduce hair loss
in female breast cancer patients
undergoing chemotherapy.
The Dignitana DigniCap Cooling
System is a computer-controlled
system that circulates cooled
liquid to a head-worn cooling cap
during chemotherapy treatment.
The apparatus is designed to
constrict blood vessels in the
scalp, which in theory, reduces
the amount of chemotherapy that
reaches cells in the hair follicles,
reducing the local impact of the
treatment, the FDA explained on
its website.
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