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John D. Loeser, MD, Department Editor
Reviewed by John D. Loeser, MD
C.A. Warfield & H.J. Faust (Eds.), Philadelphia, Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins, 2002, 407 pages, $59.95 (soft cover), ISBN 0-7817-2313-2
This is a large format, soft cover overview of all aspects of pain management. There are 64 chapters in four sections: Understanding Pain, Pain by Anatomic Location, Common Painful Syndromes, and Pain Management. It is a multiauthored text, and the chapters are sometimes too brief and superficial. The writing is generally clear and concise. A few critical references are included in each chapter. The index is useful, the font large enough to be readable, and there are many illustrations.
The chapter on surgical treatment of neuromas has little or nothing to do with pain but describes in far too much detail the conventional wisdom about how to repair injured nerves. The implication is that resecting neuromas has some utility in pain management, which is, at best, a dubious proposition. The chapter on behavioral management is far too brief for the importance of cognitive and behavioral strategies in pain management. The chapter authors do not present alternative concepts or treatment strategies; they are generally mainstream allopathic medicine and medical psychology. I believe that this book might serve well as a general overview for someone new to the pain management field that wants a quick read on a variety of topics.
John Loeser is a professor of neurological surgery and anesthesiology at the University of Washington in Seattle.
