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Introduction: Pharmacotherapeutic options continue to expand for the treatment of chronic non-cancer pain. There has been an increasing emphasis on multimodal analgesia. This strategy employs use of multiple analgesic medications each with a distinct mechanism of action, which when administered concomitantly may provide profound analgesia., Areas Covered: The authors describe evidence from randomized controlled trials and systematic reviews on a variety of established medications including anti-inflammatory agents, opioids, anti-convulsants, anti-depressants, N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonists, sodium channel blockers, cannabinoids, and alpha-2-receptor blockers. Furthermore, they provide developing evidence on more novel pharmacotherapeutics including alpha lipoic acid, acetyl-L-carnitine, low-dose naltrexone, calcitonin gene-related peptide antagonists, targeted toxin therapy, Nav1.7 inhibitors, neurotensin agonists, purinoceptor antagonists, and sigma-1 receptor antagonists. Furthermore, the authors review the safety and adverse effect profile for these agents., Expert Opinion: In this era of the opioid epidemic, clinicians should first offer non-opioid analgesics and employ a multimodal analgesic strategy. Current guidelines recommend a personalized approach to the chronic pain treatment, in each case accounting for type, location, severity, and chronicity of pain. Clinicians should also carefully consider the risk-to-benefit ratio to the patient based on the drug side effect profile, patient age, and comorbidities.

Background and Purpose: External hemipelvectomy (EHP) is an uncommon procedure involving surgical amputation of the lower extremity and hemipelvis. Soft tissue sarcomas of the pelvis are rare and accompanied by a high risk of disease progression after surgical intervention. The purpose of this case report is to describe the rehabilitation considerations and importance of interdisciplinary collaboration to achieve functional goals to allow discharge with improved independence and decreased caregiver burden., Case Description: A 58-year-old Caucasian male patient underwent a hemipelvectomy and hemisacrectomy for treatment of a recurrent pelvic soft tissue sarcoma following 4 months of bed confinement secondary to pain and weakness of the involved lower extremity. This report outlines the physical therapy interventions during 3 weeks of inpatient rehabilitation., Conclusion: This case demonstrates that continuous interdisciplinary care of a complex patient with EHP and hemisacrectomy contributes to significant improvement in functional mobility exceeding prior level of function. This case is particularly interesting because in addition to having a rare diagnosis and undergoing an uncommon surgical procedure, this patient was confined to bed for 4 months prior to surgical intervention, and thus began rehabilitation with a baseline of limited functional mobility and high caregiver burden.