This third edition of Essentials of Pain Medicine offers an accessible and concise, yet complete, overview of today's theory and practice of pain medicine and regional anesthesia. From a review of basic considerations through local anesthetics and nerve block techniques, this book provides the reader with an excellent tool for exam review or practice of Pain Management. Organized in a concise, practical quick-reference format. All chapters are brief and easy to read quickly. Offers specific strategies for the evaluation and management of a full range of pain syndromes, including cancer pain. Features over 230 diagrams, illustrations, summary charts and tables that clarify the information and make it easy to apply. Discusses the latest drugs and therapeutic approaches, such as acupuncture. Presents the management of pain for every setting where it is practiced, including the emergency room, the critical care unit, and the pain clinic. Includes new topics such as: imaging in pain medicine, radiation safety, issues associated with the use of narcotics, intraarticular and intraperitoneal use of opioids, pain management in the emergency room and in the intensive care unit, pain management issues during pregnancy, geriatric pain, and hospice care and end-of-life issues. New chapters on interventional procedures include discography, intradiscal electrothermal coagulation (IDET), vertebroplasty, and piriformis injections. Truncal blocks and neuraxial blocks and anticoagulants are added to the section on nerve blocks.