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2009 European Pain Management Award

Winner 2009 of the Merial European Pain Management Award

And for 2009, the winner is…

Intrathecal Anaesthesia In Two Dogs Undergoing Thoracolumbar Vertebral Fixation by Sara Capelli.

As members of the jury we decided to reward the case Intrathecal Anaesthesia In Two Dogs Undergoing Thoracolumbar Vertebral Fixation by Sara Capelli because it is a serious work about a novel approach of pain relief in spinal surgery presented in a very well constructed way.

This paper is the best of the ones submitted; it fits with the objectives of the award, even more so when taking into consideration that it is written by a practitioner. Therefore this paper has an original character; the technique described could be used in veterinary practice routinely.

The paper presents a reasonable novel approach to pain relief in spinal surgery, using an intrathecal injection to minimize the painful effects of surgery in two dogs. This technique was only described before for use in orthopedic surgery, so these two cases are the first which are described in the literature.

In the discussion the only point to be mentioned is the question why the dogs needed fentanyl as an “add-on” drug for pain therapy. Additional research is needed for calculating the correct dosage and volume for intrathecal anaesthesia of morphine and bupivacaine.

Both case reports are a good starting point for a research project with more objective parameters like degree of pain, behavior of the patient before, during and after treatment, and the exact diagnosis of pain, and different dosage and volume.

As a conclusion, being a case report, it lacks the strength of a research study but nonetheless the report is well constructed and has a good literature review. Moreover, it also reflects that attitudes towards pain relief are changing amongst practitioners and that novel approaches to pain management in dogs can be used in practice.

In our opinion it is good enough to open the door to this particular analgesic protocol and should stimulate further investigations in this field. This case will make a useful contribution to the veterinary literature.

—The Jury

Download the winning presentation: Presentation slides | Article | Poster

About the Award

In order to promote research into pain management, our company furthermore instituted the first Merial European Pain Management Award. The Award aims to reward innovative and outstanding work by a veterinarian, in the field of pain management in companion animals or horses. The cases described may exhibit pain of any aetiology, including osteoarthritis, surgery and cancer. The objective is to share knowledge, for a better understanding, recognition, scoring and control of pain in companion animals.

The 2009 award, worth 3000 €, was presented at the 2010 Merial Pain Management Symposium.