The Invasive Management of Pain: Diagnosis and New Treatment Options.

Both the diagnosis and treatment of pain are evolving, especially in interventional approaches. Diagnosis of low back pain combines old and new methodologies, in particular, it involves an expanded role for ultrasound. While low back pain is a common complaint, there are many etiologies to the condition which must be explored before a final diagnosis can be made and treatment planned.

Latin American and Caribbean consensus on noninvasive central nervous system neuromodulation for chronic pain management (LAC-NIN-CP).

Introduction: Chronic pain (CP) is highly prevalent and generally undertreated health condition. Noninvasive brain stimulation may contribute to decrease pain intensity and influence other aspects related to CP.

Objective: To provide consensus-based recommendations for the use of noninvasive brain stimulation in clinical practice.

Undertreatment of pain and low use of opioids in Latin America.

Pain is highly prevalent among the adult Latin American population. However, many patients with moderate to severe pain do not have access to effective pain management with opioids due to limited access to healthcare, overuse of nonopioid analgesics, regulatory barriers and lack of appropriate information about opioids. There is scarce training on use of opioids among physicians and other healthcare providers, which leads to misconceptions, mainly related to a fear of prescribing opioids.

Most Relevant Neuropathic Pain Treatment and Chronic Low Back Pain Management Guidelines: A Change Pain Latin America Advisory Panel Consensus.

Objective: Chronic pain conditions profoundly affect the daily living of a significant number of people and are a major economic and social burden, particularly in developing countries. The Change Pain Latin America (CPLA) advisory panel aimed to identify the most appropriate guidelines for the treatment of neuropathic pain (NP) and chronic low back pain (CLBP) for use across Latin America.

Methods: Published systematic reviews or practice guidelines were identified by a systematic search of PubMed, the Guidelines Clearinghouse, and Google.

The role of tramadol in pain management in Latin America: a report by the Change Pain Latin America Advisory Panel.

Objective: Change Pain Latin America (CPLA) was created to enhance chronic pain understanding and develop pain management improving strategies in this region. During its seventh meeting (August 2016), the main objective was to discuss tramadol's role in treating pain in Latin America. Furthermore, potential pain management consequences were considered, if tramadol was to become more stringently controlled.

Latin-American guidelines for opioid use in chronic nononcologic pain.

Aim: Latin-American experts in the use of opioids in patients with chronic nononcologic pain (CNOP) have updated existing recommendations to current Latin-American reality.

Methods: Several key opinion leaders from Latin America participated in a face-to-face meeting in Guatemala (April 2015) to discuss the use of opioids in CNOP. Subgroups of experts worked on specific topics, reviewed the literature and shaped the final manuscript.

Use of Opioids in Latin America: The Need of an Evidence-Based Change.

Objective: The subject of this publication has been focused on local considerations for facilitating regional best practice, including identifying and uniformly adopting the most relevant international guidelines on opioid use (OU) in chronic pain management.

Design And Setting: The Change Pain Latin America (CPLA) Advisory Panel conducted a comprehensive, robust, and critical analysis of published national and international reviews and guidelines of OU, considering those most appropriate for Latin America.

Methods: A PubMed search was conducted using the terms "opioid," "chronic," and "pain" and then refined using the filters "practice guidelines" and "within the last 5 years" (2007-2012).