Interventional Pain Management of Thoracic Spinal Pain

Call for Papers

Among chronic pain disorders, pain arising from various structures of the spine constitutes the majority of the problems. However, the proportion of patients suffering from thoracic pain is relatively small compared to low back or neck pain. Even then, thoracic pain is as disabling as low back or cervical pain. Multiple structures have been described to be responsible for thoracic pain including discs, nerve roots, facet joints, ligaments, fascia, and muscles.

Chronic thoracic spinal pain is considered as a multifactorial disorder with many possible etiologies. Conventional clinical and radiologic techniques used to diagnose thoracic pain are unreliable in diagnosing either facet or discogenic pain. Based on the available evidence, thoracic facet joints with abundant nerve supply, capability of causing pain similar to that seen clinically in normal volunteers with persistent mid back and upper back pain and referred pain into the chest wall, are amenable to multiple disorders such as osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, degeneration, inflammation, and injury. Both discs and facet joints have been shown to be a source of pain in patients, using diagnostic techniques of known reliability and validity. However, to establish a diagnosis, controlled diagnostic blocks have to be performed. The evidence is moderate for thoracic facet joint nerve blocks, whereas for discogenic pain with provocation discography, it is limited. Consequently, apart from conservative management including cognitive behavioral and drug therapy, interventional therapy includes mainly managing facet joint pain with facet joint nerve blocks and disc-related pain with epidural injections. There is paucity of evidence for all types of interventions including diagnostic interventions. Further, multiple interventions performed in the thoracic region are also associated with enormous risk.

We invite investigators to contribute original as well as systematic or narrative review articles on research and development of thoracic pain and its management. These include epidemiology, diagnosis, and management aspects. Relevant high-quality articles on somatic chest wall pain, including intercostal neuritis, are also accepted. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Epidemiology of thoracic and chest wall pain
• Neurophysiologic basis of thoracic spinal and chest wall pain
• Noninterventional diagnosis of thoracic and chest wall pain
• Interventional diagnosis of thoracic and chest wall pain
• Conservative management of thoracic and chest wall pain
• Interventional management of thoracic and chest wall pain
• Complications of interventional techniques

Before submission authors should carefully read over the journal's Author Guidelines, which are located at http://www.hindawi.com/journals/arp/guidelines/. Prospective authors should submit an electronic copy of their complete manuscript through the journal Manuscript Tracking System at http://mts.hindawi.com/ according to the following timetable:

Lead Guest Editor

• Laxmaiah Manchikanti, Pain Management Center of Paducah, Paducah, KY 42003, USA; Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, USA

Guest Editors

• Frank Falco, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Temple University Medical School, Philadelphia, PA, USA
• Sukdeb Datta, New Jersey Spine & Rehabilitation, 24 Friar Tuck Circle, Summit, NJ 07901, USA