Chronic Pain: A Primary Care Guide to Practical Management, 2nd edition Dawn A Marcus. Secaucus, NJ: Humana Press c/o Springer Science + Business Media, 2009. ?62.99, 438 pages. ISSN: 978-1-60327-464-7

摘要

The clinical aspects of pain as a whole, and even of headache in particular, have always been something of a Cinderella subject-it is barely taught to students at any level, and sometimes thought to be so straightforward that there is limited scope for academic study. As this book states explicitly, 70% of pain patients are managed in a primary care context and only 2% in a Specialist Pain Clinic.As a direct result of their longstanding expertise in local and regional nerve blocks anaesthetists in most countries have developed an expertise in pain management, which has extended to all types of medication. At this they are undoubtedly expert, and this book is in essence an excellent comprehensive text for trainees in pain management, most of whom are drawn from the anaesthetists. Neurologists continue to be very grateful that so many patients with chronic pain are looked after in these clinics, quite separate from the investigation-oriented service provided in any general or Specialist Neurology Clinic.