Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea.
J Korean Med Sci. 2012 Jun;27(6):707-10. doi: 10.3346/jkms.2012.27.6.707. Epub 2012 May 26.
The mechanism of chronic pain is very complicated. Memory, pain, and opioid dependence appear to share common mechanism, including synaptic plasticity, and anatomical structures. A 48-yr-old woman with severe pain caused by bone metastasis of breast cancer received epidural block. After local anesthetics were injected, she had a seizure and then went into cardiac arrest. Following cardiopulmonary resuscitation, her cardiac rhythm returned to normal, but her memory had disappeared. Also, her excruciating pain and opioid dependence had disappeared. This complication, although uncommon, gives us a lot to think about a role of memory for chronic pain and opioid dependence.
慢性疼痛的机制非常复杂。记忆、疼痛和阿片类药物依赖似乎具有共同的机制，包括突触可塑性和解剖结构。一位 48 岁的女性因乳腺癌骨转移导致严重疼痛，接受了硬膜外阻滞。局部麻醉剂注射后，她发生了癫痫发作，随后出现心脏骤停。心肺复苏后，她的心律恢复正常，但记忆却消失了。此外，她的剧痛和阿片类药物依赖也消失了。这种并发症虽然不常见，但让我们思考记忆在慢性疼痛和阿片类药物依赖中的作用。
