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American Pain Society
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John D. Loeser, MD, Department Editor
Reviewed by John D. Loeser, MD
James E. Cottrell & David S. Smith (eds.), Mosby, St. Louis, 2001, 860 pages, $149 (hard cover), ISBN 0-8151-03021-2
This is a thorough and authoritative text on how to provide optimal intra-operative anesthetic care for neurosurgical patients with one exception: it completely ignores any aspect of pain management, either pre-operative, intra-operative, or post-operative. It is, therefore symptomatic of one of the curses of advanced American medicine: anesthesiologic services stop at the operating room door but may be continued in the intensive care unit for selected patients. The textbook devoid of pain management was one of the issues that John J. Bonica first attacked almost 50 years ago, and it is surprising and disappointing to see a modern text completely omit any reference to pain management. The book is otherwise well written and nicely produced and has good illustrations and references for each chapter and a good index. I believe, however, that APS members should boycott any text that does not address pain management within its chosen discipline. The public statements of anesthesiology about pain management being within its disciplinary area are undermined by this text.
John Loeser is professor of neurological surgery and anesthesiology at the University of Washington in Seattle.
