Disease whether it is acute, chronic, or at end stage, is all too regularly accompanied by pain. Pain is often difficult to control, in malignant disease in particular, even by using appropriate medications. Anesthesiologists and pain therapists have developed new invasive therapies including nerve block, sympatholysis, and neurolysis useful for both diagnosis and pain management. To insure the efficiency and safety of these procedures, and furthermore for elaborate techniques such as vertebroplasty, cementoplasty, and radio frequency bone ablation, imaging guidance becomes mandatory. This state-of-the-art book describes the techniques elaborated by interventional radiologists in the treatment and palliation of a variety of benign and malignant painful conditions. Each chapter written by an expert in the field concentrates on a particular aspect of pain management, with emphasis on practical issues. This book will serve as an invaluable source of information for the radiologist willing to learn about new pain therapy techniques aimed at optimizing or replacing more invasive traditional methods.

Evaluating and Managing Pain in a Pain Management Center

Pain and Psyche
Computertomography-guided Percutaneous Interventions
Complications and Patient Management
Foraminal Injections of Corticosteroids Under Tomodensitometric Control
Spinal Infiltrations: Technical Difficulties and Potential Complications
Trigeminal Neuralgia
Arnold's Neuralgia
Pterygopalatine Ganglion Neurolysis Under CT Guidance
Stellate Ganglion Neurolysis Under CT-Guidance
Percutaneous Neurolysis of the Celiac Plexus and Splanchnic Nerves
Other Sympatholysis
Pudendal Nerve Infiltration Under CT Guidance
Injection of Inguinofemoral Nerves
Vertebroplasty and Cementoplasty
Aspiration and Lavage of Calcific Shoulder Tendinitis
Other Analgesic Bone Procedures
Fractures of the Pelvic Girdle: CT-guided Percutaneous Fixation
Interventional Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Pain Therapy
Treating Painful Osseous Metastases by Internal Radiation Therapy.