Recent advances in the neurophysiology of chronic pain

The chronic pain syndrome patient has become the ‘leper’ of emergency medicine. There are no emergency medicine guidelines and minimal research into managing this challenging group of patients. Objective: To summarize the recent advances in laboratory research into the development of chronic pain that have relevance to emergency management. When the level of supporting evidence is low, it is imperative that emergency physicians understand the physiology that underpins those expert opinions upon which they base their treatment strategies. Methods: Literature was searched via Medline, Cochrane, Cinahl, and PsycINFO from 1996 to 2004, under ‘chronic pain and emergency management’. Medline from 1996 was searched for ‘chronic pain and prevention’, ‘chronic pain and emergency’ and ‘chronic pain’. Bibliographies were manually searched for older keynote articles. Results: Advances in understanding the biochemical changes of chronic pain are paralleled by lesser known advances in delineation of the corticol processing. Conclusions: Drug manipulation causes complex action and reaction in chronic pain. Emergency physicians must also optimize cognitive and behavioural aspects of treatment to successfully manage this systemic disease.