Radiation and Imaging Radiation Safety for the Pain Specialist
NOTE Print Section Listen * This chapter is dedicated to the memory of our dear colleague Howard Smith who was a trusted friend, a renaissance clinician trained in multiple fields…
Destructive Neurosurgical Procedures for Treatment of Chronic Pain
INTRODUCTION Print Section Listen Destructive interventions on the nervous system are a valuable method to obtain control of otherwise intractable pain. Before the relatively recent development of augmentative techniques, such…
Spinal Injections (Including Epidural Steroids and Medial Branch Blocks)
OVERVIEW Print Section Listen Spinal injections have been performed for many years, most often for the management of axial, paraspinal, and radicular pain. They have evolved over the years with…
Cannabinoids in Pain Management
HISTORY AND CONTROVERSY OF MEDICAL MARIJUANA Print Section Listen Cannabis has been utilized as a medicine and in various cultural practices for millennia with accounts of its use dating back…
Novel Opioid Formulations
INTRODUCTION: WHY NOVEL FORMULATIONS? Print Section Listen The medical profession recognizes the clinical value of prescribed opioids in treating noncancer pain that is persistent and recalcitrant to other therapies.1 However,…
Opioid Pharmacotherapy
INTRODUCTION Print Section Listen “Among the remedies which it has pleased almighty God to give to man to relieve his sufferings, none is so universal and efficacious as opium.”—Sir Thomas…
NMDA Receptor Antagonism in Pain Therapy
NMDA RECEPTOR STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION Print Section Listen The synapse between the primary afferent and secondary afferent neurons in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord is a critical site…
Muscle Relaxants and α2 Agonists for Pain Management
INTRODUCTION Print Section Listen Skeletal muscle relaxants are frequently used in patients with both acute and chronic pain when a component of muscle spasm is thought to be contributing to…
Antiepileptics for Pain
INTRODUCTION Print Section Listen Antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) have been used in the treatment of chronic pain syndromes for more than 50 years.1–4 Phenytoin, in particular, has been extensively used for…
