Evidence-Based Interventional Pain Medicine - According To Clinical Diagnoses

Unrelieved chronic pain is a worldwide epidemic
Chronic pain has been subject to multiple international initiatives through the World Health Organization. Interventional Pain Medicine, use of minimally invasive techniques to relieve pain, is the best approach when simpler measures such as physical therapy or medications fail. However, these procedures can be associated with significant risk and expense. Establishing uniformity in diagnostic criteria and procedural performance can reduce both morbidity and unnecessary procedures, and hence healthcare expenditures.

While other texts explain how to perform these procedures, little focus has been given to diagnostic considerations: if and when these procedures should be performed. Evidence-based Interventional Pain Practice uniquely focuses on how the establishment of an accurate and specific diagnosis relates to the effectiveness of the interventions. It provides the evidence for the use of interventional pain techniques across all areas of chronic pain including:

‧ Head, neck and shoulder pain
‧ Spinal pain
‧ Pain in the joints and extremities
‧ Complex Regional Pain Syndrome
‧ Phantom pain

Evidence-based Interventional Pain Practice provides essential knowledge for anyone who uses, or intends to use, interventional pain techniques.

Jan Van Zundert MD, PhD, FIPP
Anesthesiologist, Department of Anesthesiology and Multidisciplinary Pain Centre, Ziekenhuis Oost-Limburg, Genk, Belgium

Jacob Patijn MD, PhD
Neurologist, Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Management, Maastricht University Pain Centre, Maastricht, The Netherlands

Craig T. Hartrick MD, DABPM, FIPP
Anesthesiologist, Departments of Anesthesiology, Biomedical Sciences, and Health Sciences, Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine, Rochester, MI, USA

Arno Lataster MSc
Anatomist, Department of Anatomy and Embryology, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands

Frank J.P.M. Huygen MD, PhD, FIPP
Anesthesiologist, Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Management, Erasmus Medical Centre, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Nagy Mekhail MD, PhD, FIPP
Carl E. Wasmuth Professor and Chair, Department of Pain Management, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA

Maarten Van Kleef MD, PhD, FIPP
Neurologist, Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Management, Maastricht University Medical Centre, Maastricht, The Netherlands