Articles: pain-management.
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Chronic pain is a significant and costly problem all over the world. Despite significant progress in identifying the best treatment approaches, there are still significant obstacles that must be overcome in order for the treatment to be truly beneficial. ⋯ Creating an interdisciplinary service is not easy and certainly is much more complicated than simply placing different services in one clinic. However, when such interdisciplinary programs are instituted, they increase the effectiveness of chronic pain management significantly; bring satisfaction to doctors and are economically attractive (interdisciplinary treatment programs for patients suffering from pain not only provide the best clinical treatment, but are also the most cost-effective in the long run).
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Postgraduate medicine · Nov 2020
Editorial CommentInterventional pain management in cancer patients.
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Postgraduate medicine · Nov 2020
Editorial ReviewInterventional pain management in patients with cancer-related pain.
Invasive interventional procedures for managing pain in cancer patients are often underutilized following the popularization of the WHO analgesic ladder. The procedures that were successfully used until then were relegated away from mainstream palliative care practice, with the advent of newer opioids and adjuvants. Even though nerve blocks, intrathecal pumps and spinal cord stimulation were reintroduced as the fourth step of the WHO ladder, often referrals for these procedures are too late to produce a meaningful effect on quality of life. ⋯ ITDDs, neuromodulation and ever-increasing use of procedures routinely used in treating chronic nonmalignant pain would be the mainstay of interventional management until AI and nanotechnology would open doors for novel treatment options. Interventions should not be used as a last resort after multiple failed attempts at opioid therapy, but as an integral part of a management strategy including medical management, psychological and emotional welfare, and supportive care of the patient in a holistic manner. The curriculum of specialists should include appropriate training to safely perform and produce better quality evidence to validate the efficacy and safety of these challenging procedures.