A clinical reference work dealing with all aspects of acute pain, from the basic mechanisms underlying the development of pain, to the various treatments that can be applied in different clinical situations.

PART 1 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS1a Applied physiology of nociception - Pierre Beaulieu1b Mechanisms of inflammatory hyperalgesia - Suellen M Walker2 Developmental neurobiology of nociception - Suellen M Walker3 Clinical pharmacology: opioids - David J Rowbotham, Alcira Serrano-Gomez and Anne Heffernan4 Clinical pharmacology: Traditional NSAIDs and selective COX-2 inhibitors - Stephen F Jones and Aidan M O’Donnell5 Clinical pharmacology: paracetamol and compound analgesics - Phil Wiffen6 Clinical pharmacology: other adjuvants - Evangelos Tziavrangos and Stephan A Schug7 Clinical pharmacology: local anesthetics - Jonathan McGhie and Michael G Serpell8 Assessment, measurement and history - David A Scott and Wendy M McDonald9 Preventive analgesia and beyond: current status, evidence, and future directions - Joel KatzPART 2 MANAGEMENT - TECHNIQUES10 Routes of administration - Jeremy Cashman11 Patient-controlled analgesia - Pamela E Macintyre and Julia Coldrey12 Continuous peripheral neural blockade for acute pain - Kim E Russon and William Harrop-Griffiths13 Epidural and spinal analgesia - Sina Grape and Stephan A Schug14 Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) and acupuncture for acute pain - Mark I Johnson, Stephen Oxberry and Karen H Simpson15 Psychological therapies - adults - H Clare Daniel16 Psychological interventions for acute pediatric pain - Christina Liossi and Linda S FranckPART 3 MANAGEMENT – CLINICAL SITUATIONS17 Postoperative pain management following day surgery - Girish P Joshi18 Acute pain management in the intensive care unit - R Scott Simpson19 Acute pain management in the emergency department - Anne-Maree Kelly