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Analgesic Ceiling
A dose wherein no additional analgesia is produced regardless of further dose increases
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Breakthrough Pain
Transient moderate to severe pain that occurs above the pain treated by current analgesic treatment protocol
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Dermatome
The area of skin innervated by the sensory fibers of a single dorsal root of a spinal nerve
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Equianalgesic Dose
A dose of one analgesic that is equivalent in pain-relieving effects to another analgesic
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Modulation of Pain
The activation of descending pathways that exert inhibitory or facilitative effects on the transmission of pain
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Neuropathic Pain
Pain caused by damage to nerve cells or changes in spinal cord processing
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Nociception
Activation of the primary afferent nerves with peripheral terminals (free nerve endings) that respond to noxious (tissue-damaging) stimuli
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Nociceptive Pain
Pain that is caused by damage to somatic or visceral tissue and occurs abruptly after an injury or disease, persists until healing occurs, and often is intensified by anxiety or fear
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Pain
An unpleasant sensory and emotional experience arising from actual or potential tissue damage and described in terms of such damage; whatever the person experiencing the pain says it is, existing whenever the person says it does
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Patient-Controlled Analgesia
An analgesic delievery system that allows the patient to receive a bolus infusion of an analgesic on deamnd within the parameters programmed into the delivery system
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Perception of Pain
The state in which pain is recognized, defined, and responded to by the individual experiencing the pain
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Suffering
The state of severe distress associated with events that threaten the intactness of the person
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Titration
Dose adjustment based on assessment of the adequacy of analgesic effect versus the side effects produced
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Transduction of Pain
The conversion of a mechanical, thermal, or chemical stimulus into a neuronal action potential
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Transmission of Pain
Movement of pain impulses from the site of transduction to the brain
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Trigger Point
A circumscribed hypersensitive area within a tight band of muscle that is caused by acute or chronic muscle strain
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