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Chronic Pain in Trauma Patients

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Anesthesia for Trauma

Abstract

Chronic pain in trauma patients affects millions of people worldwide. Often diagnosis is challenging along with effective treatment and management. Some examples of chronic pain related to traumatic injury include complex regional pain syndrome, phantom limb pain, posttraumatic headache, spinal cord injury, chronic whiplash syndrome, and traumatic brain injury. Nociceptive and neuropathic pain process can play a role in trauma-mediated pain states. Traumatic injury is associated with a number of complicated pathophysiological process that ultimately result in different chronic pain states. The clinician should understand these mechanisms, evaluate patients with chronic pain related to trauma carefully and effectively, and deliver the best therapeutic options. It is suggested that a good interventional pain physician and continued review of the literature made hold the greatest number of options, including interventional pain techniques, to optimize the disability and/or pain state of these challenging patients.

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Correspondence to Lindsay R. Higgins M.D., M.P.H., B.S. .

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Higgins, L.R., Braddy, W.K., Higgins, M.S., Kaye, A.D. (2014). Chronic Pain in Trauma Patients. In: Scher, C. (eds) Anesthesia for Trauma. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-0909-4_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-0909-4_7

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