Pharmacologic management of pain in patients with Chikungunya: a guideline

Abstract From the arrival of Chikungunya virus in the Americas in 2013 until March 2016, approximately two million cases of the disease have been reported. In Brazil, the virus was identified in 2014 and thousands of people have been affected. The disease has high attack rates, infecting 50% of a population within a few months. Approximately 50% of infected people develop chronic symptoms lasting for months or years. Joint involvement is the main clinical manifestation of Chikungunya. It is characterized by swelling and intense pain that is poorly responsive to analgesics, both in the acute and chronic phase of the disease. This significantly compromises quality of life and may have immeasurable psychosocial and economic repercussions, constituting therefore, a serious public health problem requiring a targeted approach. Physicians are often not familiar with how to approach the management of pain, frequently prescribing limited analgesics, such as dipyrone, in sub-therapeutic doses. In addition, there are few published studies or guidelines on the approach to the treatment of pain in patients with Chikungunya. Some groups of specialists from different fields have thus developed a protocol for the pharmacologic treatment of Chikungunya-associated acute and chronic joint pain; this will be presented in this review.

Arterite de takayasu na infância: revisäo de literatura a propósito de 6 casos / Takayasus's arteritis in childhood: review of the literature apropos of 6 cases

Analisaram-se, retrospectivamente, aspectos epidemiológicos, clínico-laboratoriais e terapêuticos em 6 crianças portadoras de Arterite de Takayasu (AT), além de revisao da literatura. Todos os casos preenchiam os critérios do ACR. A idade da apresentaçao diagnóstica variou de 7 a 14 anos (x = 10,3+2,8), sendo 4 pacientes do sexo feminino. O tempo de início da sintomatologia até o diagnóstico variou de 1 mês a 5 anos. Astenia, emagrecimento e hipertensao arterial estiveram presentes em todos os pacientes. Outras manifestaçoes clínicas observadas foram cefaléia, dor abdominal, insuficiência cardíaca, alteraçao dos pulsos periféricos, sopro abdominal e crise convulsiva. A classificaçao angiográfica de Ueno modificada, demonstrou 5 pacientes portadores do tipo III e 1 do tipo II. Corticoterapia foi utilizada em 4 pacientes com a doença em atividade, observando-se remissao das manifestaçoes sistêmicas. Terapia antituberculosa foi utilizada em 5 pacientes com PPD fortemente reator (>15 mm). Controle da hipertensao arterial foi obtido com auxílio de terapêutica anti-hipertensiva. Angioplastia luminal foi realizada em 4 pacientes, com bons resultados em 1 paciente, com remissao de insuficiência renal aguda associada a rim único. Obito ocorreu em 1 criança devido complicaçao de abdome agudo vascular. A investigaçao da AT deve ser realizada nos pacientes com hipertensao renovascular, particularmente quando associada a manifestaçoes sistêmicas e/ou presença de sopro abdominal, alteraçao de pulsos periféricos e manifestaçoes cardiovasculares.