Pain Polyclinic

What is Pain Treatment?

The International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) defines pain as “an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience that accompanies or can be identified with actual or potential tissue damage.” Pain is both a physiological sensation and an emotional reaction to that sensation. If this reaction persists for a long time, regardless of the cause, it is called “chronic pain.” Chronic pain significantly affects a patient's mobility, ability to work, sleep, self-care skills, and socialization capacity. If left untreated or untreatable, the negative consequences intensify. These negative effects don't only affect the patient; they also affect their family, healthcare professionals, and, when considered from an economic perspective, the entire healthcare system and the national economy. Therefore, it is important that pain treatment is carried out effectively and in a disciplined manner as a team. This team consists of a large group including all medical specialties when necessary, as well as the patient, their family, and the social system.

What is Algology (Pain Treatment) Science?

Pain is the most important reason that brings a patient to the doctor. Therefore, the necessity of its existence cannot be denied. It is an important criterion, especially in the diagnostic phase and in determining the success of treatment. However, pain can also turn into a disease that cannot be treated with simple painkillers after its cause is determined. In this case, it becomes necessary to re-evaluate the pain, reveal its mechanism, determine the accompanying factors, and as a result, apply advanced pain treatment methods. All these research and applications have led to the emergence and development of Algology (Pain Science) as a scientific discipline today. Since pain can be felt in some cases even without any demonstrable tissue damage, when treating pain, the assumption is that "whatever the patient says about their pain is true." In pain clinics, the treatment of all pains in acute or chronic processes is directly performed and/or organized. Since pains can be nociceptive or neuropathic in nature, both The component is carefully evaluated and appropriate methods are selected. During treatment, therapies involving drugs from different pharmacological groups, traditional and complementary medicine practices, or many interventional treatment methods can be applied.

Which Types of Pain Are Treated in Algology Branches?

• Headaches as a symptom of various diseases or as a disease in itself (such as Migraine, Tension Headache, Cluster Headache, Neck-related Headache…)
• Neck and Back Pains (such as Cervical Hernia, Cervical Osteoarthritis, Fibromyalgia, Pain due to Trauma and Postural Disorders…)
• Shoulder and Arm Pains (Frozen Shoulder Syndrome, Shoulder Joint Arthrosis, Arthritis, Nerve Compression, Referred Pain…)
• Chest, Abdominal and Groin Pains (Referred Pain from Musculoskeletal System Diseases or Internal Organ Diseases in the Relevant Area…)
• Lower Back and Leg Pains (Herniated Disc, Facet Joint Syndrome, Chronic Pain After Lumbar Surgery, Degenerative Disc Disease, Spinal Stenosis, Sciatic Nerve Compression (Piriformis Syndrome), Sacroiliac joint pain, pain due to spinal cord injury…
• Pain due to cancer or its treatments
• Facial pain-neuralgias (Trigeminal neuralgia, Occipital neuralgia… )
• Rheumatic diseases (Osteoarthritis, Rheumatoid arthritis, Gout, Soft tissue rheumatism, Osteoporosis…)
• Neuropathic pain and neuralgias (Shingles and postherpetic neuralgias, Complex regional pain syndrome, Diabetic neuropathy, Post-stroke pain, Neuropathic pain due to vascular occlusion…)

Main Treatment Methods Applied in Our Pain Clinic

• Anesthesiological methods (Central, peripheral and sympathetic nerve blocks)
• Epidural region interventions (Cervical, thoracic, lumbar, sacral)
• Epidural steroid injections, facet joint injection, implantable port-pump systems, neurolysis, radiofrequency applications, epidurolysis
• Intra-articular injections, trigger point injections,
• Neuroablation applications (Conventional or pulsed radiofrequency applications)
• Ozone therapy applications (Systemic major-minor, local, intra-articular, other…)
• Acupuncture (TCM, Master Tung, Auriculotherapy)
• PRP applications

The unit, which has been operating as a Pain Unit within the Department of Anesthesiology at Başkent University Faculty of Medicine since 1998, received authorization for subspecialty training under the name Ankara 6th Algology Program (P035) in accordance with the Specialty Training Regulation published in the Official Gazette dated 25.08.2009/27292, and became a Department by the decision of the Council of Higher Education (YÖK) on 21.10.2014. Algology units also provide services in centers outside of Ankara. In our Department, a multidisciplinary approach is emphasized, and all types of pain treatment modalities are applied using modern imaging methods (Ultrasonography, Fluoroscopy, Computed Tomography, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, etc.).