Book excerpt: This text for clinicians and scientists addresses the area of surgery devoted to the treatment of pain. In addition to material on surgical procedures, the 80 contributions by leading international experts include material on the medical aspects of pain, (anatomy, physiology, pharmacology of pain and nociception, specific pain syndromes and diagnoses), guidelines for analysis and assessment, non-surgical treatments, rehabilitative treatments, management of opiates and other analgesics, myofacial treatments, the ethics of pain control, and pain clinic organization. Each chapter is followed by commentary representing various perspectives and opinions. Illustrated with b&w images and drawings. Edited by Kim Burchiel (neurological surgery, Oregon Health Science U.). Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR