In the original dustsheet. Green cloth binding with green gilt title on the spine.

• F.B.A. provides an in-depth photographic presentation of this item to stimulate your feeling and touch. More traditional book descriptions are immediately available.

These proceedings from the 9th World Congress on Pain held August 22-27, 1999, in Vienna, Austria, relate to the Congress theme “Pain: from Molecule to Mind” and offer a comprehensive overview of the status of pain science and medicine today. Pharmacological, physical, psychological and cognitive approaches to pain management are discussed, as are complementary approaches to pain modulation and the ancillary benefits of pain research. Neuropathic, nociceptive, inflammatory, and sympathetic-related pain are dealt with extensively. Here is an opportunity to view at a glance the entire field of pain science and medicine, and to test and improve your understanding of topics with which all pain professionals should have at least passing familiarity.

Descartes’ pain pathway: “Particles of heat” (A) activate a spot of skin (B) attached by a fine thread (cc) to a valve in the brain (de) where this activity opens the valve, allowing the animal spirits to flow from a cavity (F) into the muscles causing them to flinch from the stimulus, turn the head and eyes toward the affected body part, and move the hand and turn the body protectively.

Pain is a distressing feeling often caused by intense or damaging stimuli. The International Association for the Study of Pain defines pain as “an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with, or resembling that associated with, actual or potential tissue damage.”

Pain motivates organisms to withdraw from damaging situations, to protect a damaged body part while it heals, and to avoid similar experiences in the future. Most pain resolves once the noxious stimulus is removed and the body has healed, but it may persist despite removal of the stimulus and apparent healing of the body. Sometimes pain arises in the absence of any detectable stimulus, damage or disease.

Pain is the most common reason for physician consultation in most developed countries. It is a major symptom in many medical conditions, and can interfere with a person’s quality of life and general functioning. People in pain experience impaired concentration, working memory, mental flexibility, problem solving and information processing speed, and are more likely to experience irritability, depression and anxiety.

Simple pain medications are useful in 20% to 70% of cases. Psychological factors such as social support, cognitive behavioral therapy, excitement, or distraction can affect pain’s intensity or unpleasantness.