Our results show that intrathecal administration of morphine efficiently relieves the symptoms of pain and improves QOL. Continuous intrathecal administration of morphine appears to be an alternative therapy to conventional analgesic drug delivery and has advantages in those patients who have severe side effects with systemic administration of analgesics.

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Background: Subjective tinnitus is the perception of an acoustic sensation that is not audible by other people, without any external sound stimulus. Objective: To assess the benefit of auricular acupuncture and antioxidants on subjective tinnitus. Design: A prospective questionnaire including an 11-point scale of the subjective volume, an 11-point scale of the severity of tinnitus, and the Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale were used to assess the response to acupuncture. Patients and Setting: We recruited 13 patients who reported symptoms of tinnitus for 3 to 5 years. We evaluated the patients at 3 times: at baseline, 1 month, and 4 months. The study was carried out during a 10-month period between November 2007 and August 2008 in an outpatient facility in Italy. Intervention: We treated the patients with oral antioxidants and auricular acupuncture 2 times a week, for 4 weeks; each acupuncture session lasted 30 minutes. Main Outcome Measures: The reduction of the subjective volume, of the severity of the tinnitus, and the improvement of the emotional state. Results: From baseline to 1 month, there was a reduction of 4.25 points (t ¼ 0.357; P ¼ .76) of the subjective volume of the tinnitus; a reduction of 5 points (t ¼ 0.544; P ¼ .64) of the severity of the tinnitus; and a reduction of 18.9 points (t ¼ 0.387; P ¼ .74) on the anxiety scale. No variation was registered between months 1 and 4, but patients reported improved sleep. Conclusions: Auricular acupuncture plus oral antioxidants nonsignificantly reduced the noise and the intensity of subjective tinnitus in this cohort. Larger trials including randomized treatment are needed to confirm this outcome.

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