Chronic pain is defined as a pain that lasts over 3 months. It can be part of the symptoms of a disease, or it can be its main (or even the only) manifestation. According to one classification, pain can be either sensory, i.e. due to injury or chronic irritation of a tissue or organ outside the nervous system, or neuropathic, i.e. originating from the nervous system itself. In each case the treatment is different, and the correct diagnosis of the cause contributes significantly to the success of the treatment. The administration of analgesic drugs without any specification can often aggravate the problem, rather than relieve the patient.
End-stage cancer pain
End-stage cancer pain, the importance of which has unfortunately been underestimated even by doctors, can very often be treated to a very satisfactory degree. This can be either sensory or neuropathic. As a basic human act, the doctor needs to alleviate the pain of a seriously ill person, offering some quality of life at their last hour, when they really needs it.
Neuropathic pain
The treatment of chronic neuropathic pain sometimes requires the cooperation of various specialties, such as an anesthesiologist, a neurosurgeon, a neurologist, a psychiatrist and an internal medicine specialist or GP. Types of neuropathic pain include Trigeminal Neuralgia, Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, Ghost Member Pain and others. Modern Neurosurgery offers a number of possibilities that can alleviate the pain in patients whose drug treatment has either failed or is not indicated. Most interventions are mild and in fact many of them can be carried out even with local anesthesia. It is very important for the patient with chronic pain to be able to find their way to these treatments (such as Radiofrequency Electrode Pain Treatment) and to overcome their previously incurable issue.
