Pain Management
Location: Ambulatory Services Building – 1st Floor
Hours: 6:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m., Monday – Friday
Information:
General: 410-337-1185
Scheduling: Done through Surgical Posting, 410-337-1070
Fax Number: 410-337-2209
Nurse Manager: 410-427-2284
Approximately 75 million people live in chronic, debilitating pain that adversely affects their daily life according to the National Pain Foundation. Surprisingly, chronic pain only recently has been recognized as a serious health problem. Although chronic pain is undertreated, patients should not bear it stoically.
For the past few years, the medical community has improved in recognizing and treating chronic pain disorders. Now, hospitals and nursing homes that do not manage chronic pain effectively may be cited by The Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Health Care Organizations (JCAHO). Standards include educating patients about pain, measuring pain on a regular basis and improving deficiencies in pain-related care. In fact, Congress has declared 2001-2010 the "Decade of Pain Control and Research."
Relief from the pain
The Pain Management Center at St. Joseph Medical Center is a place where patients may find relief from their chronic pain. This technologically advanced, hospital-based facility is dedicated to providing interventional and multi-modal treatments for a wide variety of pain conditions.
State-of-the-art fluoroscopy equipment, and specialized equipment for radio frequency treatment and intradiscal procedures offer the most advanced technology available. IDET, cryoablation and specialized drug delivery systems also are available and frequently cannot be found at many large academic centers.
Attention from the best
The treatment approach of board-certified pain management specialists Louis Panlilio, M.D., Theodore Grabow, M.D., Sheppard Kaplow, M.D., Brian Block, M.D., Ph.D., and Greg Hobelmann, M.D. is multi-modal. The goals of therapy are to restore function, decrease pain and return the patient to normal daily living as quickly and safely as possible.
Some of these physicians are graduates of the Pain Medicine Fellowship at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Others hold adjunct faculty appointments at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Their practice consists exclusively of pain management services. Their concern and training is focused solely on identifying ways to treat pain without relying on high-dose narcotic therapy. Since pain is a multidimensional condition, the specialists of the Pain Management Center believe the approach must be multi-disciplinary.
Nurses of the Pain Management Center are members of the American Society of Pain Management Nurses and are experienced PACU and/or operating room staff. Working side by side with the pain management specialists, the nurses have specialized skills in guiding patients through the pre-procedure area, the procedure room and the recovery area. Their dedication and knowledge is evident in the therapeutic relationships they form with chronic pain patients.
Who is treated at the Pain Management Center?
There are many types of painful conditions affecting the patients of the Pain Management Center. One of the most common conditions is lower back pain, sometimes with pain extending into the legs. Patients with neck and back problems such as disc herniations and arthritic pain are also seen routinely. Other problems treated at the Pain Management Center include cancer pain, nerve injury pain, joint pain, muscular pain, certain types of headaches and pain after surgery.
Pain management procedures performed at St. Joseph Medical Center include:
- Epidural steroid injections (lumbar and cervical)
- Sacroiliac joint injection
- Nerve root block
- Facet joint block (lumbar and cervical)
- Major joint and bursa injections
- Discography
- Neuro-modulation (spinal cord stimulators)
- Neuro-ablation (facet rhizotomy)
- IDET
- Autonomic ganglion blocks
- Intercostal nerve blocks
- Botox injections
- IV infusion therapy (Phentolamine)
- Epidural blood patch
- Chemical neurolysis
If you have a patient you believe would benefit from treatment at the Pain Management Center or you would like more information, please call 410-337-1185.
