“Chronic pain is unnecessary suffering; There are many pain clinics, but they are inadequate”

40 years ago, doctor ricardo plancart sanchez established pain clinic From the National Cancer Institute, the first of its kind. Experts are also leading in this Conservative management of chronic pain And the technologies he created have spread around the world, helping patients improve their quality of life.

“This is unnecessary suffering chronic pain“, he insists Plancarte Sanchez in interview with Your Doctor-El Universal. INCan expert, who heads its Committee of Experts on Chronic Painstates that it is considered chronic pain When the discomfort continues to affect the patient after 3 or 4 months and if it does not respond to conventional treatment, whether medicinal or surgical.

“Just then pain clinic “It plays an important role in reducing or resolving the traumatic event when there is a possibility of reversing the cause that generated that pain, and it saves a lot of resources for institutions,” he highlighted.

live with chronic pain It affects all aspects of a person’s life, so it is essential that they receive comprehensive treatment. Plancarte Sanchez It recognizes that although there are many units where medical care is provided chronic pain, They are inadequate, so it is necessary that there are more at the national level. However, he points out that improving access Treatment There needs to be more resources,

,Pain Clinic Those in the country are inadequate.”

Question: What is it? pain clinic, What services do you offer?

One pain clinic It is an area of ​​health care activity of an organization. It has the special function of being a referral service, what this means is, that the priority areas of the institution are to refer patients who suffer, chronic pain, In units like the one set up at the National Cancer Institute, we collaborate in an interdisciplinary manner and he pointed out interdisciplinary because generally all institutions are multidisciplinary because they have involvement from different disciplines of medicine, but the challenge is to interact. The challenge is to combine all the benefits that come from each of these disciplines in favor of the patient. At the institutional level, this is a huge challenge and when there is progress in interdisciplinarity, the patient benefits greatly, because the care they demand is not delayed because they are suffering. chronic pain,

Question: Should there be more? Pain Clinic in country?

Answer: Of course, this is despite the fact that it has been increasing for many years. I was one of the founders of Mexican Association for the Study and Treatment of Pain Which is a branch of the world’s largest organization, the International Society for the Study and Treatment of Pain. By diagnosing this situation we realized how many pain units At that time there were very few. Currently, some 30 or more years after its inception, the number of Pain Clinic It exists in the country, despite the fact that federal health legislation already stipulates the need for a pain unit and mandatory nature for public health institutions. palliative care.

The need to treat the symptoms associated with unnecessary suffering has been recognized, because unnecessary suffering chronic pain. When recognition arises that there are symptoms that are not necessarily pain and should be treated, then palliative care. so many Pain and Palliative Care Units in the country, but they are still inadequate.

Unfortunately, in our country doctors with a certain level of training tend to live in big cities. This is still lacking in small towns, leave alone communities Algologist studied and treated by experts Pain,

“Management of chronic pain demand resources,

Question: What needs to be done to overcome these shortcomings that still exist in Mexico?

Answer: We have emphasized on searching for resources. We have not succeeded in making a health policy. Management, care, study and treatment of chronic pain demands resources and it is the legislators who can amend the laws and until it is amended and there is no item economic resources assigned, there will always be gaps in care across the country, because pain units Its existence stems from the fact that resources in institutions are obtained from other sectors, from other services, there is no operational independence.

How can we move forward, precisely in recognition of a health policy. Now that we have a situational diagnosis, its prevalence study chronic pain, studies that show the huge costs of suffering from this unnecessary phenomenon. because there Pain There is necessary, useful pain and there is useless pain. He Pain It is an alarm that there is some disorder in our body, it alerts us to treat and cure that disorder, but chronic pain, Low back pain, neuropathic pain, trigeminal pain or cancer pain, these are Pain Useless, these are sometimes the consequences of some situation experienced and what we have to do is treat it, smooth it out, control it to reduce the suffering and that is why a policy is needed.

Question: You are a pioneer in Conservative management of chronic painHow are we able to control like this even in Mexico chronic pain Of a patient?

Answer: It exists to treat chronic pain resources medicinalnon-medicinal and interventional management, What is interventional management, Well, that Conservative management of chronic pain It involves blocking the passage of pain through very diverse methods, not through traditional surgery by opening the body and accessing and cutting a part of the nervous system, but through the introduction of electrodes or catheters through needles and certain special implants. Even through. Devices to stimulate the nervous system that causes pain.

they don’t exist dolorimeter Reliable for the entire population, then what is objective becomes subjective, you have to trust the patient who is suffering that he has pain and that the pain of one is not the same as the pain of another, even if they suffer from the same pathology. Be. Then there is a blockage of the system through which pain passes, signaled by Paincan be interfered with traditional pain methodWe can prevent blockage and control it.

There are very effective methods that have fully demonstrated their span of control Pain, even if the cause has not been changed, this is very important. The reason, in many cases, cannot be modified because it is already a sequel, but the arbitration system Pain and he is Interventional Management.

I had the opportunity to design technologies that have been well accepted by the international community, we published them in journals with very good international impact and received recognition. especially technologies that disrupt Pain Mediated by the sympathetic system.

Question: How do you feel about these achievements?

Answer: I truly believe that the best remuneration for a doctor is relief. Pain of the patient and this resource that is being proposed can be replicated in other latitudes of other countries. So when I see interest in using the resources of other generations, other hospital centers, it fills me with great satisfaction. interventional management Who was born right here in our country and who is helping a large number of suffering patients.