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| Home Front: Tech |
| The War on Pain |
| 2005-02-15 |
| While the process of extracting injured troops from combat zones has been streamlined, the methods for relieving their agony during evacuation has lagged General anesthesia, which suppresses the activity of the entire central nervous system, is itself an assault on the body - a little death that requires constant monitoring of heart rate, blood pressure, and respiration, followed by hours in the recovery room. And when traditional anesthesia wears off, the pain returns, requiring patients to take massive doses of morphine or other addictive analgesics as they recuperate. Now [Col. Chester] Buckenmaier is leading a group of army doctors and nurses determined, as he puts it, "to drag the military kicking and screaming into the 21st century." His team believes the future of wartime pain control is a new form of anesthesia called a continuous peripheral nerve block, which takes a more targeted approach by switching off only the pain signals coming from the injured limb, leaving patients' vital signs and cortical functions unimpaired. For soldiers evacuated from the battlefield, the advantages of nerve blocks over traditional methods of pain control are clear. The wounded troops flying in and out of Landstuhl are often in misery or a narcotized stupor, while those treated with blocks remain awake and pain-free despite massive injuries. |
| Posted by:Zpaz |
| #1 Our fear of drugs in the US has hampered our ability to deal and properly treat pain in both civilian and (now, evidently) military life. Anesthesia and pain medicines are one of the huge triumphs of science for the betterment of all mankind. We should use all possible techniques to properly treat pain and suffering. |
| Posted by: Mark E. 2005-02-15 2:39:31 PM |