Center for Pain Relief Featured in M.D. News

M.D. News
Greater Pittsburgh Edition
November/December 2006
Vol. 2, No. 5

Butler Memorial Hospital’s Center for Pain Relief
Triple-Strength Pain Relief
By Kevin Ritchart and Carolyn Scott

Butler Memorial Hospital’s Center for Pain Relief offers patients new hope and freedom from pain. Leading the team since July 2006 is medical director Dr. Sophie Hanna. She is a physiatrist who is board certified in physical medicine and rehabilitation as well as pain management. She has also been fellowship-trained in pain management, with specialty training in physical medicine and rehabilitation.

Highly experienced board certified anesthesiologists Dr. Randall Rawa and Dr. David Hertzog round out the team.

“We look at pain from a global perspective using a multidisciplinary approach,” says Dr. Hanna. “We are conservative at first. The treatment is based on the universal pain scale. We look at the patient on the whole, not just the pain.

“We are interested in focusing on daily living and improving quality of life.”

The location of the new BMH Center for Pain Relief is another benefit for many patients.

Dr. Hanna has patients who used to travel as long as two hours to see her in Pittsburgh but have now transferred their care to Butler Memorial Hospital.
 
The Center serves patients from as far away as Clarion and Franklin.

“We wanted the Center for Pain Relief to provide patients with comprehensive options for pain treatment and to be led by specialists board certified in pain relief,” says Rick Allen, senior vice president of business development and strategic planning at Butler Memorial Hospital. “With the addition of Dr. Hanna as the new full-time Medical Director, we can now offer a wider spectrum of clinical expertise to those who need relief from pain. The BMH Center for Pain Relief and Dr. Hanna will work directly in support of primary care doctors in the region to provide the absolute best and latest treatment options and feedback for continuing care.” 

The Center for Pain Relief provides a multidisciplinary approach, which uses a wide array of treatments.

Dr. Hanna is trained in the functional aspect of pain management. Drs. Rawa and Hertzog are trained to handle invasive procedures.

The team works together to provide patients with the best treatment regimens available for their individual needs. Doctors Hanna, Rawa, and Hertzog present a united and formidable front against pain.

According to Dr. Rawa, the new approach was developed in response to patient need.    

“The team approach evolved from a community need for a more modern approach to pain management,” Dr. Rawa says. “ Many pain syndromes are very complex conditions. We recognized early in the development of the practice that having a team of physicians with complementary training and skills would provide the best outcomes for our patients.

“We selected our team members so that each physician added something unique to the practice. Our team is now composed of three physicians with a diverse background.   Each member brings something different to the practice. Together we control a huge resource of knowledge and expertise that we can utilize to care for our patients.”

Dr. Hertzog is enthusiastic about the continued growth of the Center for Pain Relief,

“The community is now in a position to access metropolitan-quality care in a smaller rural setting without having to travel many miles away,” Dr. Hertzog says, “We see that the need for a multidisciplinary approach to pain is developing rapidly in this community.”

Dr. Rawa said the most common source of pain is low back pain, which can be treated with lumbar epidural steroid injections or sacroiliac joint injections with fluoroscopic guidance.

“The advantage of all the blocks I perform is that it allows me to treat and eliminate the source of the problem/pain and not simply mask the symptoms with pain medication.”

Some of the other procedures performed at the Center for Pain Relief include thoracic epidural steroid injections with fluoroscopic guidance to treat symptoms of mid-back pain, cervical epidural steroid injections with fluoroscopic guidance to treat symptoms of shoulder and neck pain and trigger point injections to treat areas of exquisite muscle tenderness.

The team also performs radial frequency lesioning, during which heat is applied to the nerve. The process is called Wellerian degeneration. The heat damages the nerve to the point that no more pain signals are sent.

“It helps to localize lower back pain and pain in the spine that usually presents as arm or leg pain,” says Dr. Hanna. “It’s very exciting. We’ve already done seven cases.”

Dr. Hanna said the Center for Pain Relief will be involved in spinal cord simulation trials and that new disc procedures are coming, which will require some new equipment.

The team also performs occipital nerve blocks, peripheral nerve blocks, facet blocks, nerve root blocks and sympathetic chain blocks.

The Center for Pain Relief also offers a high level of expertise in traditional methods of pain management such as physical therapy, physical medicine, and rehabilitation as well.

Butler Memorial Hospital’s Center for Pain Relief occupies renovated space on the third floor of Butler Memorial Hospital. For more information call (724) 284-4612.