Shanghai launches first center dedicated to treating chronic pain

Shanghai recently established its first-ever pain diagnosis and treatment center, which taps into the expertise of local doctors.

The Botong Pain Diagnosis and Treatment Center at Shanghai Tianyou Hospital Affiliated to Tongji University will be committed to alleviating and treating refractory pain caused by cancer, chronic intractable pains-including those caused by lumbar disc herniation and shingles-and various types of joint pain, experts said at the launch ceremony on Friday.

The center said that it will also work with pain clinics at different hospitals in the municipality to train doctors and discuss special cases to improve standardized diagnosis and treatment of pain and elevate the quality of life for patients.

Xiong Yuanchang, director of the pain treatment center at Shanghai Changhai Hospital and one of the experts who initiated the Botong center, said that pain clinics started in the country in the 1980s, and pain medicine has thrived since such clinics were widely set up in hospitals in 2007.

"Internationally, pain is now regarded as a disease rather than a syndrome, and pain medicine is gaining importance in our country's public health against the backdrop of an aging society and the rising incidence of tumors," said Wang Jiejun, a professor of pain medicine at Shanghai Changzheng Hospital and another expert initiating the center.

"Doctors can do more in pain management, and we want to tell patients that it does no good to endure chronic pain, especially when cancer progresses into an advanced stage," he continued.

Experts said that pain treatment is an important part of palliative therapy, and for advanced-stage cancer patients, starting palliative therapy earlier usually means a better prognosis and a higher survival rate.

In addition, pain alleviation will help improve patients' mood and reduce the burden of family care, Wang said.

Experts said that in the United States, many doctors object to middle- and late-stage cancer patients taking chemotherapy and living in intensive care units, and the proportion of such patients accessing hospice care, which tends to the physical and emotional needs of the terminally ill and helps them die with dignity, has increased over the past years.

However, palliative care starts too late in clinical treatment in China as most patients receive such care only around one month before dying, experts said.