Weiner's Pain Management: A Practical Guide for Clinicians. Seventh Edition

Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, Dec, 2006 by M. Craigie

Weiner's Pain Management: A Practical Guide for

Clinicians. Seventh Edition. Eds. M. V Boswell,

B. E. Cole; CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group,

6000 Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300, Boca

Raton, FL 33487-2742, U.S.A.; $429.79; 225 mm x

285 mm; pp. 1612; ISBN: 0-8493-2262-6.

This doorstop of a book from the American Academy of Pain Management (AAPM) is a mixed offering reflecting the interests of the Academy's diverse membership. It consists of 104 chapters organized into 13 sections. The quality of the chapters varies considerably with some, such as the three chapters on facet joint interventions being very detailed, while others, especially in Section 2, Discipline-Specific Approaches, are so general that one wonders who this book is pitched at. The book commences with a self-indulgent chapter entitled A brief history of pain from a personal perspective written by one of the Editors, highlighting his and the Academy's contributions to the evolution of pain medicine. This self-congratulatory tone is evident in a number of other chapters, especially some in Section 3, Common Pain Problems, where the authors are clearly enthusiasts of particular treatments and, as a result, tend to provide less than balanced reviews of the topic, often quoting their own publications to a significant extent to support their arguments. In addition, some of treatments recommended would not be considered current best practice and the supporting statistics quoted in some chapters are quite old. There is a strong emphasis on 'needle' techniques with most of Section 7, Procedures and Techniques, devoted to describing them in great detail.

Surgical procedures, apart from minimally invasive surgery, get very little mention. The discussion of opioids is particularly disappointing. Of the two chapters, the first is focused on the dangers of opioid use in chronic, non-cancer pain and the second is simply a list that could have come straight out of a pharmacology textbook. Their clinical use is not discussed at all. On a positive note, the two sections devoted to complementary therapies and electrical and magnetic therapies are a good introduction to topics that are generally not found in other similar major texts. Similarly, Section 12, Beliefs, Religion and Spirituality, makes interesting reading that might challenge some readers.

Overall, the book has a very strong North American focus with many chapters repeating North American statistics, emphasising cost issues and the AAPM approach to pain management, especially with respect to legal issues, credentialing and practice management that have little relevance to pain medicine practice elsewhere. I would advise taking a very careful look at this book before purchasing it.

M. CRAIGIE

North Adelaide, South Australia