1.The concept of pain
Pain is one of the main vital signs of human beings. Since January 1, 2001, pain has been recognized as the “fifth vital sign of human beings” after respiration, pulse, body temperature and blood pressure, which has important biological significance. Pain is divided into “acute pain” and “chronic pain” according to its duration, and the significance of acute pain is its “warning” function. Therefore, acute pain is called “good pain”. On the other hand, chronic pain that lasts for more than 3 months and is difficult to treat can be destructive to physical and mental health and quality of life, so it is considered “bad pain” and should be eliminated.
2. Is chronic pain a disease?
The World Health Organization proposed in 2000 that “chronic pain is a type of disease”, and the 106th Congress of the United States in 2000 approved 2000-2010 as the “Decade of Pain Control and Research”, and the European Union also The European Union also established 2000 as the Year of Pain. China attaches great importance to the development of pain, the Ministry of Health in 2007, No. 227, the Department of Pain as a first-class diagnosis and treatment subjects, number 27, in the hospital is an independent clinical departments, the main scope of diagnosis and treatment of chronic pain.
3.What is World Analgesia Day?
In 2003, the European Union of Pain Societies launched the European Analgesia Week, aiming to raise scientific awareness of the need to prevent and treat pain in a timely manner. This event was highly appreciated by the International Academy of Pain Societies (IASP), which decided to promote it worldwide. Subsequently, IASP President Michel Bond wrote a letter to the Chinese Society of Pain (CASP), establishing October 11, 2004 as the first “Global day against pain”, i.e., the third Monday of October every year as “World Analgesia Day”. It also suggested that the week of mid-October could be designated as “Analgesia Week” according to the situation of each country.
The Chinese Pain Society responded to the initiative of the International Pain Society and held a press conference in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on October 11, 2004, to designate the week of October as “China Analgesia Week”. During the activities of Pain Relief Day and Pain Relief Week, pain medicine workers around the world actively promote pain prevention and treatment knowledge and arouse the public’s attention to the hazards of pain diseases by means of popularization, charity clinics and professional lectures.
4.What is neuropathic pain?
In 1994, IASP defined neuropathic pain as “pain induced or caused by primary injury or abnormal function of the nervous system”, and in 2011, the IASP Neuropathic Pain Specialty Group revised the definition of neuropathic pain: “pain caused by lesions or diseases involving the somatosensory system”. Pain due to disease”.
5.What are the characteristics of neuropathic pain?
The incidence of neuropathic pain is high, with a population prevalence of 6.0-7.7%. There is a lack of authoritative findings on the epidemiology of neuropathic pain in China. If we take 7% as the estimate, there are about 90 million patients with neuropathic pain in China. Patients suffer from a high degree of pain, with complex and diverse manifestations, mostly in the form of tearing-like pain, knife-like pain, needle-like pain, electric shock-like pain, burning-like pain, numbness, ankylosis, etc.
6.What are the common neuropathic pains?
Common neuropathic pains include the world’s first pain —- trigeminal neuralgia, post-herpetic neuralgia, diabetic peripheral neuralgia, pain after spinal cord injury, post-stroke central pain, etc. Among them, postherpetic neuralgia and diabetic peripheral neuralgia are the most common.
7.What is the effect of neuropathic pain on patients? What is the effect of treatment?
Most of the neuropathic pain seriously affects the overall quality of life of patients, who are often accompanied by anxiety, depression, sleep disorders and other symptoms, and a small number of patients are unable to bear the pain and even take the path of suicide. Neuropathic pain not only affects patients themselves, but also has a huge impact on their families and society. Compared with other chronic pain patients with non-neuropathic pain, patients with neuropathic pain need more medication and have a lower treatment remission rate.
8.What are the consequences of untreated chronic pain?
Chronic pain, especially neuropathic pain, can lead to serious consequences if not treated effectively. The degree of altered functional neural links correlates with the duration of pain, and the longer the pain, the more obvious the damage to brain tissue. depression, and a host of other disorders. Therefore, chronic pain, especially neuropathic pain, can cause dementia, depression and other psychiatric symptoms if left untreated.
9.How to identify neuropathic pain early?
Pain scale assessment can be performed
10.What are the treatment methods for neuropathic pain?
The general principle of neuropathic pain treatment: neuropathic pain is a continuous process, and the condition may recur, requiring long-term treatment; treatment of neuropathic pain should be based on the principles of safety, effectiveness, and economy, with drug analgesic treatment generally preferred and minimally invasive treatment or neuromodulation treatment when appropriate. The most used minimally invasive treatment is nerve radiofrequency thermocoagulation or pulse therapy, and spinal cord electrical nerve stimulation (SCS) can also be used when necessary.
Neuropathic pain should be diagnosed early, intervene early, actively treat the cause; use drug or minimally invasive treatment to effectively relieve pain and accompanying symptoms and promote nerve repair; cooperate with rehabilitation, psychological, physical and other comprehensive treatment as appropriate; restore body function, reduce the recurrence rate and improve the quality of life.