click below
click below
Normal Size Small Size show me how
Pain Mngmnt Terms
Pain Managemet Terms -C
Term | Definition |
---|---|
Algologist | Physician who specializes in the treatment of pain. |
Allodynia | Pain produced by stimuli that doesn’t normally cause pain, such as touch, pressure, or warmth. |
Axial Back Pain | Pain situated around the spine. |
Breakthrough Pain | Transitory pain that comes on suddenly and is not alleviated by the regular pain management. |
Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) | An array of painful conditions characterized by a continuing regional pain that is seemingly disproportionate in time or degree to the usual course of any known trauma or other lesion. |
Cordotomy | Procedure to divide tracts of the spinal cord. |
CRPS Type 1 | Also known as reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD), this type occurs after an illness or injury that didn't directly damage the nerves in your affected limb. About 90% of people with CRPS have type 1. |
CRPS Type 2 | Once referred to as causalgia, this type has symptoms similar to those of type 1, but it occurs after a distinct nerve injury. |
Cryoablation | A minimally invasive treatment that uses extreme cold to freeze and destroy diseased tissue |
Diabetic Neuropathy | Nerve degeneration due to the effects of diabetes. |
Disc Decompression | Performed to alleviate spinal pain that is the result of nerve impingement. |
Dysesthesia | An unpleasant abnormal sensation, whether spontaneous or evoked. |
Epidural Steroid Injection | Injection of steroid around spinal nerves to reduce the inflammation, which is often the source of the pain. |
Facet Joint Block | Procedure to determine whether a facet joint is a source of pain, or as a means of pain relief. |
Facet joint injection | Primarily used to diagnose the facet joints as the source of pain. Facet joint injections with a steroid reduces the inflammation of those the affected nerves, and may provide longer term pain relief. |
Failed Back Surgery Syndrome (FBSS) | Refers to patients with lower back and leg pain (often bilateral) resulting from complications of back surgery (single or multiple procedures). |
Herpes Zoster (Shingles) | A virus that is characterized by the development of painful vesicular skin eruptions that follow the underlying route of select cranial or spinal nerves inflamed by the virus. |
Hyperalgesia | Excessive pain sensitivity. |
Hyperpathia | Excessive response to a pain trigger, and pain that continues after the pain trigger is gone. |
Implantable Drug Pump | Pain relief through spinal drug delivery systems, also called intrathecal drug delivery systems. This involves implanting a small pump that delivers medication directly to the spinal cord, where pain signals travel. |
Intractable Chronic Pain | Chronic pain that can’t be controlled with standard medical care. |
Ischemic Limb Pain | Pain resulting from ischemia in the extremities. |
Kyphoplasty & Vertebroplasty | Surgical procedures designed to stop the pain caused by a spinal fracture, to stabilize the bone, and to restore some or all of the lost vertebral body height due to compression fracture. |
Myofascial Pain | Pain and soreness in the muscles. |
Narcotics | Potent drugs which depress the CNS, relieving pain and possibly cause a sense of short–term euphoria. Excessive doses may cause unconsciousness, comma, and death. Repeated use may cause dependency and addiction. |
Nerve Blocks | Injections of local anesthetics or steroids into the epidural space, to provide pain relief for specific length of time depending on the agent and targeted nerve. |
Neuralgia | Pain of a severe, throbbing, or stabbing character in the course or distribution of a nerve. |
Neuritis | Inflammation of a nerve or nerves. |
Neuroablative Procedures | Nonreversible procedures performed to interrupt sensory pathways to the brain or in the brain stem by severing or destroying the appropriate pathology. Examples include: cordotomy, rhizotomy, thalamotomy, or chemical destruction of neural structures. |
Neurolysis | Surgical or chemical destruction of a nerve. |
Neuropathic Pain | Disease of dysfunction originating in the nerves of nervous system. (Also known as deafferentation pain or neurogenic pain.) |
Neuropathy | Disease or disorder of the peripheral nerves, often occurring as a result of damage to the nerves from injury or disease (such as diabetes); in one nerve, mononeuropathy; if diffuse and bilateral, polyneuropathy. |
Nociceptive Pain | Pain resulting from tissue damage and the subsequent release of chemicals, which act as noxious stimuli, and that are perceived by the brain as pain. (Also called somatic pain) |
NSAID | Nonsteroidal anti–inflammatory drug (Ibuprofen, Celebrex). |
Percutaneous image-guided lumbar decompression | Minimally-invasive procedure that percutaneously removes a portion of the lamina and debulks the ligamentum flavum to treat discogenic back pain. |
Peripheral Neuropathy | Disease or disorder of the peripheral nerves, often as a result of damage, inflammation, or degeneration to the nerves. |
Phantom Limb Pain | Condition in which a patient senses that the missing body part is still attached and subsequently feels pain in that area. |
Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) | Doctor who specializes in physical medicine. |
Plexus Avulsion | Ripping or tearing of a nerve plexus, usually caused by trauma. |
Post Herpetic Neuralgia | Chronic pain syndrome that develops after acute herpes zoster. |
Radiculitis | Inflammation of one or more nerve roots. |
Radiculopathy | A disturbance of function or pathologic change in one or more nerve roots. |
Radiofrequency Ablation (RFA) | Radio frequency waves delivered via probe to heat up a small area of nerve tissue, thereby decreasing pain signals from that specific area. |
Rhizotomy | Surgical procedure of cutting the anterior or posterior spinal nerve roots in order to relieve pain or reduce muscle spasms. |
Stellate ganglion block | An injection into the sympathetic nerve chain in the neck used to relieve nerve–related pain in the head, neck, chest, or arms. |
Stump Pain | Pain located in the amputated limb’s remaining stump. |
Sympathectomy | Ablation or destruction of a segment of a sympathetic nerve, or of one or more sympathetic ganglia by chemical, temperature, or surgical means in an attempt to relieve pain. |
Sympathetic Block | Injection of medication into the intrathecal space to deaden nerves of an affected area as they enter the spinal cord. |
Therapeutic Nerve Blocks | Injections of local anesthetics or steroids into the epidural space, which can provide pain relief for specific length of time depending on the agent and target. |