9 6 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • M A Y 2 0 1 9
T
he pain response is a built-in warning system, nature's way
of protecting us from further harm. Chronic pain is more
like nature's nagging nuisance.
"It no longer serves a useful function," says Steven P. Cohen, MD,
chief of pain medicine at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore. "It's
not a warning system that something is wrong, it becomes the disease
in and of itself."
Pain management specialists have a growing list of options to treat
chronic pain. Here's a review.
Mike Morsch | Associate Editor
Pain, Pain Go Away
4 advances in chronic pain treatment you'll be relieved to know about.
• PROGNOSTICATORS Steven P. Cohen, MD, and residents deliver a prognostic injection to determine if radiofrequency abla-
tion is suitable for a patient with lower back arthritis.
Johns
Hopkins
Medicine