Neurologist
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The management of chronic pain represents a significant public health issue in the United States. It is both costly to our health care system and devastating to the patient's quality of life. The need to improve pain outcomes is reflected by the congressional declaration of the present decade as the "Decade of Pain Control and Research," and the acknowledgment in January 2001 of pain as the "fifth vital sign" by the Joint Commission of Healthcare Organizations. ⋯ The rapidly evolving symptom- and mechanism-based approach to the treatment of neuropathic pain holds promise for improving the quality of life of our patients with neuropathic pain.