What is pain surgery?
Pain is a physiological response to noxious stimuli and part of the body’s self defence mechanism. Pain sensation has many components including physiological, anatomical, emotional and thus the intensity of pain may change from person to person. Even though there is not a purely objective measure of pain, we often VAS score (Visual analog score).
The rationale behind treating pain is to diagnose any underlying pathological conditions (diseases) which may result in pain.
Once the causative agents are identified, treatment should be instituted promptly to eliminate these underlying diseases or states which may range from an extruded intervetebral disc (lumbalgia) to intractable resistant pain caused by cancer metastasis.
Types of pain
In overall, pain can be categorized into two broad spectrums; nociceptive and neuropathic.
Nociceptive pain is the pain caused by damage to musculoskeletal system and ligaments all around the body and are detected by nociceptors-special types of pain receptors scattered in the whole body wherears neuropathic pain is caused by damages to the nervous system and they are generally in shooting character and episodic with a burning sensation.
Surgical treatment of pain
There are some states in which pain may persist even if the underlying cause was treated and they maybe refractory to all kinds of pain medications. In these circumstances, surgical treatment of pain is indicated; types of pain surgeries may range from simple neuroctomies, rhizotomies, myelotomy, cordotomy, spinal cord epidural stimulator implantation surgery.
Spinal cord epidural stimulator surgery is effective in most patients having right indication for surgery especially for those suffering from failed back surgery.