Diagnosis and treatment of complex regional pain syndrome in children is one of the most challenging clinical pain problems encountered in the chronic pain setting. Despite the intense and debilitating nature of the pain, referral to appropriate specialists often comes too late, thereby prolonging an already arduous (and controversial) course of treatment and risking long-term disability. On th...

This oesophageal laboratory serves a population of 1.5 million. The study aimed to review referral patterns and assess the cost effectiveness of oesophageal manometry in clinical practice. All 276 consecutive manometry studies performed between 1988 and 1991 were reviewed. Reasons for referral in the 268 first referrals were: dysphagia 50.4%, non-cardiac chest pain 23.1%, gastro-oesophageal ref...

BACKGROUND Waits for elective total hip arthroplasty for osteoarthritis are common in publicly funded health care systems, but they may lead to poorer postoperative outcomes and loss of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) through progressive pain and immobility during the wait. These issues have not been examined from the time of referral for surgery. Our primary objective was to test whethe...

background: medical error is defined as an adverse event caused by medical management, which can be prevented. the aim of this study was to investigate the accuracy of diagnosis of oral and maxillofacial diseases made by health care practitioners. methods: a descriptive cross sectional study was done between apr. 2009 and mar.2010. 372 patients with oral and maxillofacial lesions who had referr...

P. Gontero et al. (eds.), Problem Based Urology, DOI 10.1007/978-1-4471-4634-6_2, © Springer-Verlag London 2013 Abstract The term “lower abdomen” refers to the portion of abdomen below the umbilicus in which three topographic regions can be identi fi ed: the hypogastrium in the middle and the left and right iliac fossa, both located lateral to the hypogastrium, in the left and right inferior pa...

BACKGROUND Can the application of local anesthetics (Neural Therapy, NT) alone durably improve pain symptoms in referred patients with chronic and refractory pain? If the application of local anesthetics does lead to an improvement that far exceeds the duration of action of local anesthetics, we will postulate that a vicious circle of pain in the reflex arcs has been disrupted (hypothesis). M...

AIM To describe treatment and referral patterns and National Health Service resource use in patients with chronic pain associated with low back pain or osteoarthritis, from a Primary Care perspective. BACKGROUND Osteoarthritis and low back pain are the two commonest debilitating causes of chronic pain, with high health and social costs, and particularly important in primary care. Understandin...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the perceived disadvantages caused by low back pain in work, household chores and leisure-time activities, as expressed by patients themselves. DESIGN AND SUBJECTS Structured telephone interviews, carried out among a sample of 39 physician referrals (29 women and 10 men) for non-specific chronic low back pain to University Hospital, Turku, covered how low back pain affec...

There is a growing need to assess the psychological outcomes of exercise referral and the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence has called for the routine assessment of life-quality. However, a quality of life scale specific to the requirements of exercise referral is currently unavailable. Therefore, the aim of this study was to produce a quality of life measure for this purpose. Th...

AIM To evaluate the impact of a nurse consultant in developing a new model of care for patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain. BACKGROUND Patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain experience fragmented care and long waits to have their symptoms assessed [Clinical Standards Advisory Group (2000) Services for Patients with Pain. Department of Health, London]. A nurse consultant post was cr...