Book excerpt: First published in 2002, Clinical Pain Management is a comprehensive textbook for trainee and practicing specialists in Pain Management and related areas, presenting readers with all they need to know to provide a successful pain management service. This major clinical reference work comprises four volumes. Three clinical volumes deal respectively with all aspects of Acute Pain, Chronic Pain and Cancer Pain; from the basic mechanisms underlying the development of pain, to the various treatments that can be applied in different clinical situations. The fourth volume, Practic and Procedures, complements these by providing helpful advice on practical aspects of clinical management and research, including protocols and established clinical guidelines, making it a ready-reference manual for the busy clinician. Innovative features such as evidence scoring and reference annotation are incoproated for ease of reference, and the text is supported throughout with plentiful illustrations and numerous tables. New for this second edition, there is a companion website containing chapters and illustrations from the four volume set. Written and edited by a large team of acknowledged international aspects, the fully updated second edition of Clinical Pain Management remains an authoritative and comprehensive guide to this growing specialty and is an invaluable addition to the bookshelves of anyone training or working in the field of pain management.