February 06, 2005
Hurts just to think about it...
I just read a fascinating article in Wired, about a new method of pain control being used in Iraq...
...Now Buckenmaier is leading a group of army doctors and nurses determined, as he puts it, "to drag the military kicking and screaming into the 21st century." His team believes the future of wartime pain control is a new form of anesthesia called a continuous peripheral nerve block, which takes a more targeted approach by switching off only the pain signals coming from the injured limb, leaving patients' vital signs and cortical functions unimpaired...Posted by John Weidner at February 6, 2005 08:03 PM
....The blocks used by Buckenmaier and his team are made possible by the recent invention of small, microprocessor-controlled pumps which bathe nerves in nonaddictive drugs that discourage the transmission of pain signals. The pumps also can be used for weeks after surgery, enabling soldiers to adjust the level of medication themselves as they need it.
For soldiers evacuated from the battlefield, the advantages of nerve blocks over traditional methods of pain control are clear. The wounded troops flying in and out of Landstuhl are often in misery or a narcotized stupor, while those treated with blocks remain awake and pain-free despite massive injuries....(via Stryker Brigade News)
Comments
The part I found fascinating is that properly applied nerve blocks can lessen or entirely prevent phantom pain from amputations. Basically, "phantom pain" is when you have pain in a limb that no longer exists, and they think it's from a bollixing of the nerve system from the initial injury that can't get fixed because the limb is no longer there. The nerve blocks prevent this overload (general anesthesia doesn't) and the incidence of pain lessens.
Posted by: B. Durbin at February 7, 2005 04:07 PM
