Pain Medicine

The Pain Management Center is a multidisciplinary program with emphasis on relieving pain as well as improving the lives of people with chronic pain. Chronic pain is a multifaceted and complex syndrome that adversely affects a person’s physical, emotional, socioeconomic and spiritual well-being.  It can disrupt human relationships, creativity, productivity, and impact the quality of life. At the Pain Management Center, we are committed to improving the lives of people with chronic pain. 

We treat a variety of pain conditions and offer a wide range of treatment options, including pharmacological management, interventional pain procedures, and advanced analgesic techniques. Certain injuries or disorders may be improved with one or two treatment modalities; however, many require a multi-modal regimen. This may include interventional procedures and medication management, coupled with psychological support and physical therapy.  Behavioral services may include psychotherapy and counseling, relaxation training, therapeutic exercise, biofeedback and family therapy.

Consultations are provided with referral from the patient’s primary care physician or any specialist currently treating the patient. We also welcome referrals from physicians for specific procedures only. Referring physicians should complete the Physician Referral/Request Form and fax it to the Pain Management Center. The patient will then be called and scheduled for an appointment.

Pain Conditions

• Back pain
• Headaches
• Joint pain
• Shoulder pain
• Complex regional pain syndromes
• Myofascial pain
• Neck pain with/without radicular pain
• Cancer-related pain
• Neuralgia (pain from injured nerves)
• Pelvic and abdominal pain

Interventional Pain Procedures

• Lumbar and cervical epidural steroid injections
• Epidural blood patch
• Lumbar selective nerve root block
• Cervical selective nerve root block (diagnostic only)
• Lumbar and cervical facet blocks
• Lumbar and cervical radiofrequency ablation
• Sacroiliac joint injection
• Sacroiliac joint radiofrequency ablation
• Lumbar and cervical discogram
• Brachial plexus block
• Ganglion impar block
• Stellate ganglion block
• Superior hypogastric block
• Celiac plexus block
• Lumbar sympathetic block
• Hip injection
• Intercostal nerve block
• Trigger point injections

Advanced Analgesic Techniques

• Spinal cord stimulation (trial and implant)
• Peripheral nerve stimulation (trial and implant)
• Intrathecal therapy (trial and pump implant)

 

The Acute Pain Management Service (APMS) provides comprehensive consultations for adult and pediatric inpatients.  Patients with complex medical or surgical conditions that present with pain symptoms are treated by a team that includes attending anesthesiologists, pain medicine fellows, anesthesiology residents and pain management nurses.  The majority of patients on this service are post-surgical; others have cancer pain, chronic pain or other painful conditions, such as pancreatitis, trauma, burns, sickle cell disease.  Care may include intravenous patient-controlled analgesia (PCA), oral analgesics and co-analgesics (e.g. opioids, NSAIDS, anti-depressants), various nerve blocks and continuous epidural/intrathecal analgesia (caudal, lumbar and thoracic).  Pre-operative epidural catheters are placed for appropriate surgery patients, e.g. abdominal, thoracic surgery. 

 

Postoperative analgesic care following elective total joint replacement and other orthopedic procedures is provided by the acute pain management service at Kernan Hospital.  Nursing protocols for this service are written and followed under the medical direction of the University of Maryland Pain Management Center and in collaboration with the Anesthesiology Division at Kernan Hospital.  Consultation is also provided to rehabilitation inpatients requiring analgesic modification.  Complex pain management problems are referred to the Pain Management Center for inpatient evaluation.  Pain Resource Nurses are available on off-shifts and week-ends to provide continuity of  analgesic protocols.

 

Meet our Pain Faculty