Pain is an unpleasant aesthetic and emotional experience that is accompanied by actual or potential harm or described as such (Definition of International Pain Study Association – IASP).
Acute pain is a sensation triggered by the nervous system when an injury, trauma or disease occurs in the body and serves as a warning signal for the timely removal of the damaging agent and the investigation of the pain cause.
Chronic pain can be a constant sense of discomfort which can last for weeks, months or even years and can persist beyond the time frame it takes to treat a disease. Chronic pain is now considered a disease itself that needs treatment, either causality treatment by investigating the cause and applying directed treatment or symptomatic treatment in case the cause is not detected even after thorough examination.
Common causes of chronic pain are back pain, sciatica, neck pain, bruxia, trigeminal neuralgia, neuropathic pain, diabetic pain and cancer pain.
The treatment of chronic pain is based on therapeutic algorithms, but the following chronic pain and surgical techniques for chronic pain relief related to Neurosurgery are applied when less invasive methods have failed (medication, local infusions, physiotherapy, etc.):
The chronic pain and surgical techniques for chronic pain relief are ideal for suitably selected patients with chronic neuropathic and / or physical pain, provided that all other less invasive methods of pain management (medication, local infusions, physiotherapy, etc.) have been exhausted.
The chronic pain and surgical techniques for chronic pain relief are ideal for patients with chronic lumbago or autoimmune disorder due to degenerative or other spinal disorders, peripheral neuropathies, atypical facial pain, and lately in drug-resistant migraines with interesting results.
Examples of such painful conditions where chronic pain and surgical techniques for chronic pain relief are suitable for, is the failed back syndrome, the ischemic peripheral angiopathy limb pain, the neuropathic limb pain after amputation or traumatic nerve damage or migraine, the cancer pain, the post-herpetic neuralgia, the diabetic peripheral neuropathy, etc.