Fast Facts: Chronic Pain

Chronic pain has a broad range of physical and psychological pathologies, and it is through persistent pain that many of the greatest health burdens worldwide - cancer, HIV/AIDS, diabetes, arthritis, alcoholism and trauma - exact their long-term human, social and economic toll. This book summarizes the key facts about chronic pain.

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Chronic pain has a broad range of physical and psychological pathologies, and it is through persistent pain that many of the greatest health burdens worldwide - cancer, HIV/AIDS, diabetes, arthritis, alcoholism and trauma - exact their long-term human, social and economic toll. Patients expect the best possible quality of life, and a multidisciplinary team approach may be required, combining the skills of a variety of healthcare professionals who can contribute to diagnosis or treatment. "Fast Facts: Chronic Pain" summarizes the key facts about chronic pain for busy front-line practitioners, starting with chapters on the mechanisms and assessment of pain. Subsequent chapters detail the pathogenesis, diagnosis and management of specific chronic pain syndromes, including cancer pain, chronic low back pain and visceral pain. A chapter on neuropathic pain includes discussion of trigeminal and postherpetic neuralgia, complex regional pain syndrome, diabetic neuropathy, central pain, phantom pain and post-incisional pain, while a chapter on pain of musculoskeletal origin explores pain arising from fibromyalgia, osteoporosis and arthritis.