Pain Medicine — Fundamentals, Pathophysiology and Clinical Evaluation

Pain Medicine · Clinical Specialties

How it begins

A comprehensive and systematic treatise on the molecular mechanisms of nociception, segmental and supraspinal modulation, peripheral and central sensitization syndromes, contemporary epidemiology and the methodological bases for the multidimensional diagnostic evaluation of the algological patient.

What it covers

1. Historical and Conceptual Introduction
2. · The IASP Definition: Exegetical Analysis (1979 vs. 2020)
3. · Pain as "Fifth Vital Sign": Rise, Fall and New Paradigm
4. Global Epidemiology and Burden of Disease
5. · Prevalence of Major Chronic Painful Pathologies
6. · Sexual Dimorphism and Gender Differences in Algos
7. · The Socioeconomic Cost of Pain
8. Taxonomic Classification of Pain
9. · Classification of Chronic Pain according to the ICD-11
10. Neuroanatomy of Nociception: Receptors and Afferent Pathways
11. · Molecular Biology of Nociceptive Transduction
12. · Biophysics of Action Potential Generation: Sodium Channels
13. · Primary Afferent Fibers: Biophysical and Histological Characteristics
14. Spinal Transmission and Modulation
15. · Rexed Cytoarchitecture in Nociceptive Processing
16. · The Central Nociceptive Synapse: Neurotransmitters and Receptors
17. · The Referred Pain Phenomenon: Viscerosomatic Convergence
18. Ascending Pathways and Supraspinal Centers
19. · The Great Ascending Highways of Pain
20. · The "Pain Matrix" and Cortical Integration
21. Downward Pain Modulation
22. · The Periaqueductal Gray Matter Axis - Ventromedial Rostral Medulla
23. · Neurochemistry of Descending Inhibition
24. · Conditioned Pain Modulation (Pain Inhibits Pain / DNIC)
25. Physiology of Peripheral Sensitization
26. · The "Inflammatory Soup" and its Intracellular Cascades
27. · Neurogenic Inflammation: Antidromic Axonal Reflex
28. Physiology of Central Sensitization
29. · The Synaptic Cascade of NMDA Receptor Unlocking
30. · Glial Activation and Spinal Neuroinflammation
31. · The Phenotype Change of Aβ Fibers (A-beta Phenotypic Switch)
32. Neuropathic Pain: Advanced Pathophysiology
33. · Ectopic Pacemaker Generation Mechanisms
34. · Sympathetic-Sensory Coupling
35. · Death from Excitotoxicity and Loss of Segmental Braking
36. Nociplastic and Central Sensitization Pain
37. · Comparative Pathophysiology of Major Nociplastic Disorders
38. · The Default Mode Network (DMN) and Chronification of Pain
39. Multidimensional Clinical Assessment of Pain
40. · Systematic Semiology of Pain: Mnemonics ALICIA
41. · Unidimensional and Multidimensional Measurement Scales
42. · Directed Sensory Physical Examination: Key Terminology
43. Clinical Variants and Special Populations
44. · Evaluation of Pain in Critical Care (ICU)
45. Basic Clinical-Pharmacological Correlations
46. · Physiopathological Target of the Main Analgesic Families