Publications
APS Bulletin • Volume 15, Number 3, Summer 2005
Resource Reviews
John D. Loeser, MD, Department Editor
Neurosurgical Pain Management
Reviewed by John D. Loeser, MD
Kenneth A. Follett (Ed.), Philadelphia, Elsevier, 2004, 287 pages, $110.00 (hard cover), ISBN 0-7216-9241-9.
This large-format book does a very good job of introducing the basic principles of neurosurgical pain management. The 1st section covers fundamental considerations that set the stage for the use of surgery in pain treatment. The chapter by Joel Seres, “Approach to the Patient with Pain,” is superb and provides an excellent background on which all interventions must be based. The 2nd section, “Pain Syndromes of Neurological Importance,” covers specific pain syndromes and regional pains. The 3rd and largest section, “Neurosurgical Pain Therapies,” describes specific surgical procedures for the relief of pain. The final section, “Miscellaneous Topics,” covers other treatment modalities, outcomes assessment, and running a neurosurgical practice devoted to pain management. The chapters on other treatment modalities are full of good information for the neurosurgeon. The book is well illustrated with diagrams and photographs that depict the essentials of each operation. The descriptions of techniques are all clear and understandable. There is a good index.
What is unusual in a neurosurgical text such as this is the allusion to the comprehensive management of several pain syndromes and the emphasis on multidisciplinary pain management as an essential ingredient in a surgical treatment program. The idea that patients with complex chronic pain syndromes need a multidisciplinary assessment before their operations and not just after (if the operations have failed), is relatively novel in the neurosurgical world. Follett writes that he assembled this book to keep pain surgery in the minds of those entering neurosurgery and to provide pain specialists with a broad education about neurosurgical procedures. I think that he has succeeded at both tasks. Although reading a text such as this will not make anyone an expert, doing so may provide the stimulus for a neurosurgeon to become involved in pain treatment. The book is also useful for someone who is not a surgeon to learn something about each operation that might be useful for his or her patients. This is a good book for both neurosurgery trainees and those studying pain management.
John D. Loeser, MD, is Professor of Neurological Surgery and Anesthesiology at the University of Washington, Seattle.
Reviewer content represents the opinion of the reviewer, not APS.
Please direct your suggestions for future Resource Reviews to John D. Loeser, MD, Department Editor, at jdloeser@u.washington.edu