ABSTRACT
Scope of the pain clinic Chronic pain patients are a diverse group of patients, and there is no one recognized medical specialty that can truly claim the responsibility for managing pain. Historically the major impetus for the establishment of specialist pain clinics was cancer pain and the development of techniques for nerve destruction. However, improvement in medical management and nursing care of cancer patients has in most cases superseded the need for techniques that prompted such specialist interest. The focus of attention of many pain clinics has thus become one of managing a condition that is usefully called a chronic pain syndrome, rather than the symptomatic treatment of pain symptoms. The general hospital pain clinic manages cancer pain, nerve injury pain, chronic back problems and peripheral vascular disease. Its involvement may be for technical service reasons, such as a sympathectomy to improve blood flow to the ischaemic limb, or it may take the lead role in managing the complex medical and psychosocial problem called the chronic pain syndrome.
