Pain Medicine

In January 2022, our hospital established the Day Surgery Center. Day surgery refers to surgery performed by specialist physicians, with patients managed collectively by the medical team at the Day Surgery Center and admitted and discharged within 24 or 48 hours. The Day Surgery Center provides convenient and efficient surgical options, coordinates medical resources on the premise of ensuring the quality of medical care and patient safety, and provides patients with high-quality medical services. Day surgery offers the advantages of shortening hospital stays, reducing costs, accelerating bed turnover, reducing hospital-acquired infections, and improving the efficiency of medical-resource utilization; it is a clinical program strongly promoted by the state.

The Department of Pain at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University is an important component of the Department of Anesthesiology, a key specialty in Liaoning Province. It diagnoses and treats pain-related diseases using minimally invasive and standardized techniques and advanced concepts. The Pain Clinic was established in January 1987, and the Pain Ward was established in June 2020. The Department of Pain currently has 6 fixed beds and several flexible beds. It has 4 specialist physicians, all with master's degrees: 1 chief physician, 1 attending physician, and 2 resident physicians; there are also several postgraduate students, including 1 master's supervisor. There are 10 nursing staff members, all with bachelor's degrees or above. The department is equipped with advanced specialized equipment, including radiofrequency therapy equipment, an ozone generator, ultrasound equipment, a shock-wave therapy device, an ultrasonic therapy device, and various monitoring and rehabilitation devices. Its various minimally invasive procedures and surgeries have reached an advanced level nationally.

The department currently undertakes 2 Liaoning Provincial Natural Science Foundation projects, 1 scientific planning project approved by the Liaoning Provincial Department of Education, 1 Dalian Science and Technology Innovation Fund project, and 1 Dalian Medical University teaching-reform project, with total funding exceeding 200,000 yuan. Over the past five years, it has published 4 SCI papers and more than 10 papers in national core journals.

Scope of diagnosis and treatment of the Department of Pain:

1. Soft-tissue pain: periarthritis of the shoulder, lateral epicondylitis, tenosynovitis, myofascial inflammation, chronic low-back pain, chronic lumbogluteal and lower-limb pain, etc.

2. Spinal and osteoarticular pain: cervicogenic headache, cervical spondylosis, cervical and lumbar disc herniation, shoulder- and knee-joint-related pain, post-surgical pain syndrome after lumbar-spine surgery, thoracolumbar compression fractures, etc.

3. Neuropathic pain: trigeminal neuralgia, intercostal neuralgia, acute herpes zoster and postherpetic neuralgia, diabetic peripheral neuropathic pain (diabetic foot), ischemic pain caused by lower-limb vascular disease (lower-extremity arteriosclerosis obliterans), perineal pain, glossopharyngeal neuralgia, stump pain, phantom-limb pain, etc.

4. Cancer pain.

5. Non-painful conditions: sudden sensorineural hearing loss and tinnitus, intractable hiccups, hemifacial spasm, hyperhidrosis, insomnia, autonomic nervous dysfunction, etc.

Common treatment methods in the Department of Pain:

1. Radiofrequency neuromodulation and neuroablation

2. Radiofrequency treatment and ozone ablation of cervical and lumbar intervertebral discs

3. Intrathecal morphine pump implantation

4. Radiofrequency ablation and balloon compression of the trigeminal ganglion

5. Visceral nerve block

6. Lumbar sympathetic, stellate ganglion, nerve-root, and peripheral nerve blocks, etc.

7. Various ultrasound-guided nerve blocks and radiofrequency treatments, as well as extracorporeal shock-wave therapy, etc.

The Department of Pain is committed to diagnosing and treating various chronic pain conditions. Its professional medical and nursing team ensures patient safety and treatment efficacy, helping the many patients it serves overcome the burden of pain.