Visceral Pain: Clinical, Pathophysiological and Therapeutic Aspects

Visceral pain, or pain in the internal organs, is often quite difficult for the clinician to recognize promptly as its characteristics are often atypical and vary with time. Patients with visceral pain also often present with concurrent painful conditions in more than one internal organ; this can give rise to an intricate complex of symptoms which can be misleading if not accurately evaluated. Also, despite its frequency, the mechanisms behind pain in the internal organs are not fully understood, and this impacts negatively on therapy. This concise pocketbook addresses the epidemiology and clinical characteristics of the major visceral pain phenomena, the fundamentals of their neurophysiological mechanisms and the principles of their treatment. It also provides overviews of current diagnostic and therapeutic guidelines on the conditions most commonly associated with visceral pain.