News Release

Pain specialists investigate impact and treatment of landmine injury

Special issue focuses on physical, mental consequences

Peer-Reviewed Publication

Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Philadelphia – March 01, 2007 - In Iraq and other war-torn regions of the world, landmines cause widespread and devastating injury to combatants and civilians alike. The journal, Pain Medicine, has devoted a special issue to examining the social and physical impact of landmines and the treatment of pain caused by landmine injury.

"Landmines are one of the world"s most disabling and deadly public health hazards," says journal editor-in-chief, Dr. Rollin Gallagher. "Injuries can be fatal or cause disfigurement, limb amputation, nerve injury and psychological trauma." For this reason, Dr. Gallagher says that survivors, many of them innocent children, are often sentenced to a lifetime of suffering from the chronic physical and psychological pain that can result from the injury.

"Our distinguished panel, led by Professors Daniel Carr, Norman Harden and Robert Addison, the special issue"s Guest Editors, dedicated themselves to addressing all aspects of the problem of landmines, specifically focusing on pain and its management," says Dr. Gallagher. "This issue highlights information on the prevalence of pain, and a perspective of the suffering of all victims that will aid efforts in the primary prevention of landmine injury."

Articles in the Issue Include:

  • Landmines and Landmine Injuries: An Overview

  • Acute Injury Caused by Landmines

  • Neurophysiology of Pain from Landmine Injury

  • Diagnostic and Treatment Issues in Post-amputation Pain After Landmine Injury

  • Psychological and Cultural Influences on Pain and Recovery from Landmine Injury

  • Rehabilitation After Landmine Injury

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This study is published in Pain Medicine. Media wishing to receive a PDF of this article may contact medicalnews@bos.blackwellpublishing.net.

Dr. Rollin Gallagher is editor-in-chief of Pain Medicine. He is also is director of pain management at the Philadelphia VA Medical Center and professor of Psychiatry and Anesthesiology and director of the Center for Pain Medicine, Research and Policy at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He can be reached for questions at rgallagh@mail.med.upenn.edu.

Pain Medicine is the official journal of the American Academy of Pain Medicine, an organization devoted to the advancement of pain management, education and research, and also of the Faculty of Pain Medicine of the Australia New Zealand College of Anesthetists. For more information, please visit www.blackwellpublishing.com/pme.

Blackwell Publishing is the world"s leading society publisher, partnering with 665 medical, academic, and professional societies. Blackwell publishes over 800 journals and has over 6,000 books in print. The company employs over 1,000 staff members in offices in the US, UK, Australia, China, Singapore, Denmark, Germany, and Japan and officially merged with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.'s Scientific, Technical, and Medical business in February 2007. Blackwell"s mission as an expert publisher is to create long-term partnerships with our clients that enhance learning, disseminate research, and improve the quality of professional practice. For more information on Blackwell Publishing, please visit www.blackwellpublishing.com or www.blackwell-synergy.com.


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