Surgery is usually performed to treat the underlying disorder. Rarely,
a surgical procedure may be suggested as a primary treatment to relieve
pain. These procedures involve specific lesions in the nervous system.
They are usually considered only for highly selected patients. For example,
a patient who has a painful neuroma develop after a nerve injury might
be cured if the neuroma is removed. Patients with so-called sympathetically-maintained
pain are sometimes offered surgery that cuts sympathetic nerves. Patients
with cancer or other serious diseases are occasionally offered a surgical
technique in which a cut is made in nerves or the spinal cord to try to
block activity in the nervous system that may be sustaining the pain.
All of these surgical approaches have some risks, and the availability
of new therapies, such as neuraxial infusion and spinal cord stimulation,
has steadily decreased their use. |