title: Neurosurgical control of chronic pain.
abstract: The neurosurgeon can play a significant role in the management of chronic pain. This potential is all to often unrealized or distorted by a lack of knowledge about patients who are suffering from chronic pain. Patient selection is the most important determinant of successful surgical therapy. Patients with chronic pain due to a neoplasm should be offered prompt, definitive neurosurgical intervention. Neurosurgical therapy is less likely to be successful if the pain is secondary to benign disease; tic douloureux is an exception to this rule. If chronic pain behavior is not primarily due to noxious peripheral input, surgery is unlikely to yield any long-term benefit. Augmentation of input by skin stimulation or electrical stimulation of various regions in the peripheral and central nervous system may become important therapeutic procedures for the neurosurgeon.
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D009493:Neurosurgery; D010148:Intractable Pain / Q000601:surgery*; D010525:Peripheral Nerves / Q000601:surgery; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000601:surgery; D013126:Spinal Nerve Roots / Q000601:surgery; D013562:Sympathectomy; D014276:Trigeminal Nerve / Q000601:surgery; D014277:Trigeminal Neuralgia / Q000601:surgery