Evaluation of a multidisciplinary team in chronic pain treatment: interventional and prospective study

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES:The multidisciplinary approach involves more than one specialist in the health field in order to obtain more effective treatment for patients with chronic pain. The aim of this study was to assess whether the multidisciplinary approach is effective in the treatment of patients with chronic pain, as well as to analyze the therapeutic response of these patients using scales for measuring neuropathic pain, pain intensity and quality of life. METHODS: Twenty-seven patients were evaluated, with a mean age of 56.85±12.17 years. They remained in follow-up with a multidisciplinary team for 4 months and were evaluated at the beginning and end of treatment using the visual analog scale, Leeds Pain Scale for Neuropathic Signs and Symptoms and the Short Form-36 quality of life questionnaire. RESULTS: Results showed a symptomatic improvement of the patients, with regard to the reduction of pain intensity, improvement of functional capacity, mental health and general health condition, with the values found before and after intervention from 30.10% to 58.80% (p=0.004), 33.7% to 57.78% (p<0.001), 43.41% to 67.56% (p=0.002), 40.19% to 65.07% (p=0.001), respectively, in addition to the reduction of the subjective pain sensation measured by the visual analog scale with a pre-treatment median of 8 and median at the end of 2 (p<0.001). CONCLUSION:The study confirmed that the treatment performed by a multidisciplinary team improves not only the level of pain, but also directly affects the quality of life of patients.