30 years of pain treatment in Italy: past, present and future

Chronic pain is a situation that bring patients to ask for a medical intervention and can be originated from many different pathologic conditions. Nowadays, recent advancements in pain treatment have made possible to control pain in many patients, allowing them to return to daily activities. Anaesthesiologists are the modern pain specialists, and must know and define the origin of pain in every case: the comprehension of pain mechanisms gives them the possibility for a planned strategy of treatment. In this work we perform a overview about the "state of the art" of pain treatment in Italy analyzing what are the problems that require to focalize our attention. Therefore, sometimes many visits are necessary for a correct diagnosis and successful therapy. Pain management is still a young speciality, and the Italian pain specialist is often a self made expert who needs proper structures and dedicated people: the result is a different treatment not only between the hospitals but also in the same pain conditions. Although it seems that many of the new techniques used to control pain are successful, few studies and controlled trials have been done to verify long-term efficacy and potential adverse effects. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.