- Email: [email protected]
Clinical Pain Management: Acute Pain
Book reviews
Clinical Pain Management: Acute Pain, 2nd Edn. P. Macintyre, S. Walker and D. J. Rowbotham (editors). Published by Hodder Arnold, London, UK. Pp. 608; indexed; illustrated. Price. ISBN 978-0-340-94009-9.
D. J. Buggy Dublin, Ireland E-mail: [email protected] doi:10.1093/bja/aep110
Pain Management and Procedural Sedation Handbook. W. J. Phillips, J. Keith, A. Lerant and L. Jackson-Williams (editors). Published by Saunders Elsevier, Philadelphia, USA. Pp. 214; indexed; illustrated. Price £29.99. ISBN 978-0-323-5333-4. The authors indicate that the idea of this book grew out of a recognition that there was a need for a concise primer on the basics of pain management and procedural sedation. The authors feel that current medical school curriculum and ‘house officer’ training provides little education in either of these subjects. They have therefore produced a pocket book for medical students and ‘house officers’ for pain management, procedural sedation, and at the end of the book a section on common nerve blocks. The usefulness of the section on ‘procedural’ sedation is a little limited in the UK as this is not a technique practised by doctors at such an early stage of their training, but
894
Downloaded from http://bja.oxfordjournals.org/ at University of Manitoba on June 8, 2015
This book is the Acute Pain volume of a four-volume series of textbooks entitled ‘Clinical Pain Management’, series editor, Andrew Rice. The other volumes in the series cover Chronic pain, Cancer pain, and Clinical practice and research, the objective being to create a fourvolume compilation of texts that cover the full spectrum of knowledge and practice in modern pain medicine, yet with each text being self-sufficient within itself. The editors of this Acute Pain volume have co-ordinated contributions from an impressive range of international, distinguished authors. Presentation characteristics of the book include a scoring system for every evidence-based medicine guideline quoted, based on the five-point Bandolier system, a highlighted box with key learning points at the start of each chapter, and asterisked references among the chapter bibliographies, drawing attention to publications of special interest. The editors emphasize that there is some unavoidable overlap between the content of the present text on acute pain and its sister textbooks, because developments in chronic pain and cancer pain may have niche roles in acute pain. For example, chronic pain or cancer pain patients may develop ‘acute on chronic’ pain scenarios and acute internal medical patients may also develop an acute pain syndrome. The book is presented in three broad categories: General Considerations, Management Techniques, and Management—Clinical Situations. The General Considerations section opens with lucid chapters on the challenging areas of applied physiology of nociception and mechanisms of inflammatory hyperalgesia. A fascinating chapter on the developmental neurobiology of nociception follows, which explores how enhanced plasticity of the nervous system in early development enhances sensitivity of the fetal and neonatal nervous system to nociception. The mechanism by which this potentially produces long-term changes in responsiveness to nociceptive insults in later adult life, and pharmacodynamic responses to analgesic medication in later life, is explored. Throughout the text, there are clear tables presenting information in a most reader-friendly format. For example, in this chapter the tables on structure vs function for key nerve fibres and receptors in the spinal cord and that tracking long-term effects of neonatal injury in live animals are particularly helpful. Further chapters explore the clinical pharmacology of relevant analgesic medication and are followed by an interesting discussion of preventive analgesia (where the analgesic effect is prolonged beyond the expected clinical analgesic duration), which is contrasted with classical pre-emptive analgesia. Again, there is liberal use of tables and simplified, clear graphics to clarify the points raised.
The Pain management sections discuss continuous peripheral nerve block for acute pain, together with the often-overlooked areas of acute pain management in the intensive care unit and acute pain in internal medical diseases, for example, Guillain – Barre syndrome. Psychological therapies for adults and children are included, as is the familiar ‘old chestnut’ of acute low back pain, and the less familiar areas of acute pain in sports injuries and the opioid tolerant patient. One particular chapter explores how acute postoperative pain can lead to chronic pain, and highlights the editors’ belief in the urgent need to investigate genetic and medical factors associated with predicting the onset of chronic postoperative pain, and how acute analgesic interventions may attenuate this adverse outcome. Overall, I commend this comprehensive and authoritative textbook on modern acute pain medicine practice. It emphasizes the neuroscience underpinning current understanding of pathophysiology and therapy, and highlights evidence-based therapeutic strategies. The readerfriendliness of the text is excellent, with clear, appropriately focused tables and figures emphasizing key contrasts and comparisons. Importantly, this book and the entire series are accompanied by a companion website with downloadable figures. Therefore, this text is a noteworthy addition to the bibliography in this field, and will benefit anaesthetists of all grades in their professional development, including those preparing for the Diploma in Pain Medicine. It may also be attractive to professions allied to medicine who are engaged in pain medicine practice.
Clinical Pain Management: Acute Pain, 2nd Edn. P. Macintyre, S. Walker and D. J. Rowbotham (editors). Published by Hodder Arnold, London, UK. Pp. 608; indexed; illustrated. Price. ISBN 978-0-340-94009-9.
D. J. Buggy Dublin, Ireland E-mail: [email protected] doi:10.1093/bja/aep110
Pain Management and Procedural Sedation Handbook. W. J. Phillips, J. Keith, A. Lerant and L. Jackson-Williams (editors). Published by Saunders Elsevier, Philadelphia, USA. Pp. 214; indexed; illustrated. Price £29.99. ISBN 978-0-323-5333-4. The authors indicate that the idea of this book grew out of a recognition that there was a need for a concise primer on the basics of pain management and procedural sedation. The authors feel that current medical school curriculum and ‘house officer’ training provides little education in either of these subjects. They have therefore produced a pocket book for medical students and ‘house officers’ for pain management, procedural sedation, and at the end of the book a section on common nerve blocks. The usefulness of the section on ‘procedural’ sedation is a little limited in the UK as this is not a technique practised by doctors at such an early stage of their training, but
894
Downloaded from http://bja.oxfordjournals.org/ at University of Manitoba on June 8, 2015
This book is the Acute Pain volume of a four-volume series of textbooks entitled ‘Clinical Pain Management’, series editor, Andrew Rice. The other volumes in the series cover Chronic pain, Cancer pain, and Clinical practice and research, the objective being to create a fourvolume compilation of texts that cover the full spectrum of knowledge and practice in modern pain medicine, yet with each text being self-sufficient within itself. The editors of this Acute Pain volume have co-ordinated contributions from an impressive range of international, distinguished authors. Presentation characteristics of the book include a scoring system for every evidence-based medicine guideline quoted, based on the five-point Bandolier system, a highlighted box with key learning points at the start of each chapter, and asterisked references among the chapter bibliographies, drawing attention to publications of special interest. The editors emphasize that there is some unavoidable overlap between the content of the present text on acute pain and its sister textbooks, because developments in chronic pain and cancer pain may have niche roles in acute pain. For example, chronic pain or cancer pain patients may develop ‘acute on chronic’ pain scenarios and acute internal medical patients may also develop an acute pain syndrome. The book is presented in three broad categories: General Considerations, Management Techniques, and Management—Clinical Situations. The General Considerations section opens with lucid chapters on the challenging areas of applied physiology of nociception and mechanisms of inflammatory hyperalgesia. A fascinating chapter on the developmental neurobiology of nociception follows, which explores how enhanced plasticity of the nervous system in early development enhances sensitivity of the fetal and neonatal nervous system to nociception. The mechanism by which this potentially produces long-term changes in responsiveness to nociceptive insults in later adult life, and pharmacodynamic responses to analgesic medication in later life, is explored. Throughout the text, there are clear tables presenting information in a most reader-friendly format. For example, in this chapter the tables on structure vs function for key nerve fibres and receptors in the spinal cord and that tracking long-term effects of neonatal injury in live animals are particularly helpful. Further chapters explore the clinical pharmacology of relevant analgesic medication and are followed by an interesting discussion of preventive analgesia (where the analgesic effect is prolonged beyond the expected clinical analgesic duration), which is contrasted with classical pre-emptive analgesia. Again, there is liberal use of tables and simplified, clear graphics to clarify the points raised.
The Pain management sections discuss continuous peripheral nerve block for acute pain, together with the often-overlooked areas of acute pain management in the intensive care unit and acute pain in internal medical diseases, for example, Guillain – Barre syndrome. Psychological therapies for adults and children are included, as is the familiar ‘old chestnut’ of acute low back pain, and the less familiar areas of acute pain in sports injuries and the opioid tolerant patient. One particular chapter explores how acute postoperative pain can lead to chronic pain, and highlights the editors’ belief in the urgent need to investigate genetic and medical factors associated with predicting the onset of chronic postoperative pain, and how acute analgesic interventions may attenuate this adverse outcome. Overall, I commend this comprehensive and authoritative textbook on modern acute pain medicine practice. It emphasizes the neuroscience underpinning current understanding of pathophysiology and therapy, and highlights evidence-based therapeutic strategies. The readerfriendliness of the text is excellent, with clear, appropriately focused tables and figures emphasizing key contrasts and comparisons. Importantly, this book and the entire series are accompanied by a companion website with downloadable figures. Therefore, this text is a noteworthy addition to the bibliography in this field, and will benefit anaesthetists of all grades in their professional development, including those preparing for the Diploma in Pain Medicine. It may also be attractive to professions allied to medicine who are engaged in pain medicine practice.