TORONTO, Ontario – March 30, 2011 CORRECTED VERSION – The Rothbart Centre for Pain Care today announced the official opening of its x-ray room and subsequent completion of its 17,000 square foot facility ─ a much needed treatment centre for Torontonians living with chronic pain. Note: Photography is available.
Chronic pain is a disease characterized by pain lasting well beyond the time of normal healing (longer than 6 months) and effective treatments do exist. Unfortunately, Toronto and surrounding city centres have witnessed a decrease in available pain services and a resultant increase in wait times. Budget restraints within the hospital setting, and a failure to meet treatment regulations within the private sector, have been among the driving forces behind the closure of pain clinics. Furthermore, fewer and fewer clinics have staff specialized in the area of interventional pain management. Simply put, treatments do exist, yet are difficult to access.
“These new developments at this clinic today [Rothbart Centre for Pain Care] will do much to improve the lives of pain patients and their families,” said Dr. Eldon Tunks, Emeritus Professor of psychiatry, McMaster University and President, Canadian Academy of Pain Management.
Unrelieved, chronic pain has disastrous consequences. Chronic pain can disrupt sleep, decrease mobility, interfere with work and personal relationships, alter personality, create feelings of anger, anxiety, sadness, depression, despair, hopelessness and even suicide.
“No one should suffer unbearable pain for even a short period of time,” said Dr. Peter Rothbart, Director of the Rothbart Centre for Pain Care and pioneer of the independent pain clinic. “Treatment is a human right and the Rothbart Centre is committed to ensuring that patients are able to manage their pain in a timely fashion.”
TREATMENT OPTIONS
Canadians are largely unaware of the treatment options available to them. The Rothbart Centre for Pain Care administers nerve blocks as a primary mode of treatment ─ injecting a small amount of local anaesthetic near the source of the pain ─ an effective method of pain control for many individuals. In addition, medications such as antidepressants, anti-anxiety medications and analgesics (also known as anti-inflammatory drugs) are used and carefully monitored.
Today’s addition of a new x-ray fluoroscopy also enables the experts at Rothbart to perform several effective, yet underutilized forms of pain relief that may help patients for whom nothing else has worked. Simply put, an x-ray fluoroscopy allows for real time imaging that uses an x-ray to project an image of the patient (e.g. the spine) onto a fluorescent screen or image intensifier. This imaging facilitates cutting edge pain relief procedures.
X-ray fluoroscopy guided procedures now offered at the Rothbart Centre for Pain Care include:
- Rhizotomy – burning of the small nerves that are causing much or all of the pain
- Spinal cord stimulation - placing probes beneath the skin and delivering electrical impulses to the spinal column and nerves to weaken pain
“Percutaneous rhizotomy is the most effective treatment available for intractable pain due to cervical sprain injuries,” said Dr. Harold Merskey, Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at the University of Western Ontario and Past Editor of Pain Research and Management. “It carries minimal risk, reduces drug dependence, facilitates return to work and is established on the basis of impeccable controlled studies. The relief provided lasts for months or years yet is hard to obtain in Ontario.”
The Rothbart Centre for Pain Care currently lists a two week wait time for consultation. In communities within, and beyond, Toronto the wait time can be over 12 months. Not surprisingly, patients travel to the Rothbart Centre from as far away as Sudbury, Peterborough and Ottawa to avoid a long wait time. Treatments are covered by OHIP at no cost to the patient.
“My back pain was severe and radiated through both legs. The preoperative diagnosis was lumbar stenosis requiring the removal of a disc fragment and nerve decompression as well as the removal of an entire disc and replacement with a bone graft and screw insertion,” said Russ Fedun, a patient with the Rothbart Centre for Pain Care. “Despite these procedures the pain continued unabated for over a year. I was then introduced to the Rothbart Centre where I received a series of nerve blocks which have since left me virtually pain free, more mobile and less dependent on prescription drugs.”
MORE ABOUT PAIN
There are two different types of pain – acute and chronic pain.
Acute pain is a temporary pain lasting from a few seconds to several months depending on the cause (e.g. childbirth, sports injuries, menstrual cramps, minor burns). Generally speaking, acute pain is easily managed and goes away once normal healing occurs.
Chronic pain is pain persisting beyond the time of normal healing (longer than 6 months). Some causes of chronic pain are: fibromyalgia, migraine headaches, lower back pain, cancer, nerve damage, arthritis, shingles, diabetes, stroke, and a host of other reasons.
According to the Canadian Pain Coalition, it is estimated that one in five Canadians have chronic pain that interferes with their quality of life and productivity.
According to the Chronic Pain Association of Canada, the annual cost of chronic pain, including medical expenses, lost income and lost productivity, but not social costs, is estimated to exceed $10 billion.
MORE ABOUT THE ROTHBART CENTRE FOR PAIN CARE
“For decades the Rothbart Centre for Pain Care has provided service that is accessible, expert in pain relief methods, safe, dedicated to mentoring new doctors to provide pain management, and committed to advocacy for the field of pain management,” added Dr. Tunks. “Many of the well-respected pain clinicians working in the community learned their skills in the Rothbart Clinic.”
Established in 1987, the Rothbart Centre for Pain Care (formerly the Rothbart Pain Management Clinic) is one of Toronto’s largest independent pain treatment facilities. Their new 17,000 square foot facility is equipped with 18 procedure rooms, an ultrasound machine and an x-ray fluoroscopy room.
Staffed by 16 pain care doctors, the Rothbart Centre for Pain Care treats chronic headaches, neck pain, back pain, facial pain, limb pain, and whip lash injuries. Patient waiting time for a new referral is less than two weeks. Treatments are covered by OHIP at no cost to the patient.
