Publications
APS Bulletin • Volume 16, Number 3, Fall 2006
Resource Reviews
John D. Loeser, MD, Department Editor
The Massachusetts General Hospital Handbook of Pain Management, Third Edition
Reviewed by John D. Loeser, MD
Jane C. Ballantyne (Ed.), Philadelphia, Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, 2006. Soft cover, 628 pages, ISBN 0-7817-6224-3, $49.95.
Each edition of this very useful handbook improves upon its predecessor. I believe that this is the best concise review of all aspects of pain management that we have available today. There are introductory chapters on basic science and the placebo effect. Next comes a section on diagnosis, then therapeutic options, acute pain, chronic pain, pain due to cancer, and special situations. There are several useful appendices and a good index. Each chapter has appropriate tables and a few illustrations, as well as selected readings. The authors all seem to have a good grasp of the issues in multiple types of chronic pain patients. For all of them, the focus is on allopathic medicine or “mainline” diagnoses and therapies. There is much conventional wisdom expressed in these 37 chapters; you shall see how much of it is still considered useful in 25 years. I think this book can be the basis of excellent physician practices in pain management. I highly recommend it for both pain specialists and generalists who want to know what to expect from a good pain service.
Dr. Loeser is Professor of Neurological Surgery and Anesthesiology at the University of Washington, Seattle.