Pain management is a distinct and growing area of clinical medicine that encompasses many diverse components from other medical and scientific specialties. Wall & Melzack's Textbook of Pain provides the researcher and physician with an authoritative and comprehensive overview of almost every aspect of pain whether it be basic science or clinical. Divided into three section: Basic Aspects, Clinical States, and Therapeutic Aspects, the book deals with the neurophysiology, psychology and measurement of a wide range of pain syndromes (chronic back pain, cancer pain, head pain, obstetric pain) as well as the pharmacologic, surgical, electrostimulative, physiotherapeutic and psychological management of pain.

Contents
Section 1. Neurobiology of pain
1. Peripheral mechanisms of cutaneous nociception
2. Cellular and molecular properties of primary afferent neurons
3. Inflammatory mediators and modulators of pain
4. Neuroanatomical substrates of spinal nociception
5. Plasticity and pain: role of the dorsal horn
6. Representation of pain in the brain
7. Central nervous system mechanisms of pain modulation
8. Development of pain pathways and mechanisms
9. The genetics of pain
10. Animal models of pain
11. Ascending projection systems
12. Autonomic-endocrine-immune interactions in acute and chronic pain
13. Itch

Section 2. Assessment and psychology of pain
14. Emotions and psychobiology
15. Cognitive and learning aspects
16. Psychiatric disorders and pain
17. Studies of pain in human subjects
18. Pain assessment in adult patients
19. Measurement and assessment of paediatric pain
20. Assessment of pain beliefs, coping, and function
21. Hypnotic analgesia
22. The cognitive-behavioural approach to pain management
23. Pain, opiates and addiction
24. Placebo analgesia

Section 3. Pharmacology and Treatment of Pain
25. Central pharmacology of nociceptive transmission
26. Methods of therapeutic trials
27. Opiates: basic mechanisms
28. Opioids: clinical use
29. Antipyretic analgesics: basic aspects
30. NSAIDs and Coxibs: clinical use
31. Antidepressant analgesics: a systematic review and comparative study
32. Anticonvulsant medications in neuropathic pain
33. Local anaesthetic blocks and epidurals
34. Cannabinoids
35. Analgesic drugs in development
36. Supratentorial neurosurgery for the treatment of pain
37. Spinal cord and brain stimulation
38. Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation and acupuncture
39. Peripheral and central nervous system surgery for pain
40. Physiotherapy and pain

Section 4. Clinical states: Deep somatic tissue
41. Basic mechanisms of deep somatic pain
42. Postoperative pain and its management
43. Osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis
44. Myofascial pain and fibromyalgia syndrome
45. Surgical treatment for back and neck pain
46. Low back pain
47. Repetitive strain injury

Section 5. Viscera
48. Visceral pain: basic mechanisms
49. Thorax
50. A clinical perspective on abdominal pain
51. Genitourinary pain
52. Obstetric pain

Section 6. Clinical States: Headache and facial pain
53. Acute and chronic dental and orofacial pain
54. Headache
55. Primary neurovasuclar headache
56. Tension-type headache
57. Pain in and around the eye

Section 7. Clinical states: Neuropathic pain
58. Response of nerves to injury in relation to neuropathic pain
59. Mechanisms of experimental neuropathic pain: integration from animal models
60. Central consequences of peripheral nerve damage
61. Phantom limb
62. Painful peripheral neuropathies
63. Trigeminal and glossopharyngeal neuralgia
64. Complex regional pain syndromes
65. Root disorders and arachnoiditis
66. Pain following spinal cord injury
67. Central pain
68. Pharmacological therapy for neuropathic pain

Section 8. Clinical states: Cancer pain
69. Cancer pain: causes, consequences and therapeutic opportunities
70. The assessment of cancer pain
71. Analgesic therapy and palliative care in children
72. Cancer pain: treatment overview
73. Pain control in the care of the dying

Section 9. Clinical States: Special cases
74. Pain in the elderly
75. Sex and gender differences in pain and its relief
76. Epidemiology of pain

Index