Chronic Pain Management
What is interventional pain management?
The Chronic Pain Clinic is staffed by pain fellowship-trained anesthesiologists. We specialize in non-opioid medical management and intervention to manage chronic pain. We utilize conservative measures such as physical therapy as much as possible.
When conservative and medical management proof insufficient to achieve adequate pain relief, we utilize a multimodal approach to address different types of pain, including:
- Neck, back and joint pain
- Spinal stenosis
- Complex regional pain syndrome
- Myofascial pain
- Sympathetic-mediated pain
- Failed back surgery syndrome
- Upper and lower extremity pain
We specialize in expertly treating patients with chronic pain stemming from a wide variety of diagnoses, using the following interventional treatments approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration:
- Nerve blocks
- Botox injections
- Epidural steriod injections
- Facet rhizotomy
- Sympathetic blocks
- Implantable systems
- Radiofrequency procedures
- Major joint injections
- And other procedures
Pain Fellowships
A casual graduation ceremony was held in July for the 2024 Pain Fellowship physicians: (from left) Samrath Singh, MD, Ann Lee, MD, and Bardia Azar, MD.
Courtesy of Ann Lee, MD
The University of Arizona Pain Fellowship is an ACGME-accredited fellowship offered through the College of Medicine – Tucson Department of Anesthesiology. Fellows participate in patient care at the outpatient Pain Management facility, a multidisciplinary clinic with anesthesiologists on staff. Fellows get to work in close collaboration with neurologists, neurosurgeons, orthopedic surgeons, physiatrists and psychiatrists.
During the 12-month training period, fellows become skilled in the evaluation and treatment of chronic and cancer pain. The opportunity exists to learn how to organize and establish pain management services.
Modalities utilized in the treatment of pain include pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventional pain methods. Fellows get adequate exposure to fluoroscopic-guided interventional pain management techniques, including somatic blocks, sympathetic blocks, neurolytic blocks, radiofrequency ablation procedures, and spinal cord stimulator trials and implants.