Volume I

Pain is a complex experience with sensory and affective elements, whether associated with tissue damage or not. In veterinary medicine, its complexity is heightened by the inability of animals to communicate it as people do, despite there is plenty of scientific research showing that they perceive pain in the same way. Numerous factors complicate the diagnosis and treatment of pain in animals (e.g., species, age, location, origin and duration of pain, etc.). Scientific research is constantly updated in order to correctly identify and understand the main pathogenetic mechanisms of pain, the diagnostic tools available, the characteristics of the drugs and the non-pharmacological techniques that can be used.

Suffering animals need proper management of their pain. Despite the countless advances in the management and treatment of pain in veterinary medicine, there is still no "gold standard" for its assessment and treatment. From a diagnostic point of view, many methods of pain detection have been hypothesized and published, including anatomical, physiological and behavioral variables, but few have been validated. At the same time, several useful treatments have been identified, but much research is still in place. In this Research Topic, our focus is to present the latest research performed, with the aim of increasing knowledge in the field of pain management.

Original research, reviews, case reports and clinical studies on the following topics are encouraged:

- Diagnostic methods and strategies to identify various types of pain (e.g., acute, chronic and neuropathic pain)

- Use and validation of pain scales

- Guidelines for a correct pharmacological treatment

- Innovative pain management techniques (pharmacological and not)

- Treatment of surgical and post-operative pain

- Use of loco-regional anesthesia in the treatment of pain

Are you interested in contributing a manuscript to this Research Topic?

Pain Assessment and Management in Veterinary Medicine - Volume II