[Minimal invasive treatment modalities for geriatric pain management]

Geriatric pain is a significant problem in health care, because of multiple disease processes in this aged population their population will increase. Treatment options for the geriatric pain patient include pharmacotherapy, interventional pain management, physical rehabilitation, and/or psychological modalities. The most commonly employed modality for geriatric pain control is pharmacotherapy. However in older patients nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) have significant side effects and are the most common cause of adverse drug reactions. In that reason NSAIDs should be used with caution. Opioid analgesic drugs are effective for relieving moderate to severe pain. If weak opioids were found to be ineffective in attenuating pain intensity, then therapeutic nerve blocks or low risk neuroablative pain procedures should be employed prior to recommending strong opioids. A combination of invasive procedures and systemic medications has the distinct advantage of reducing medication intake and its side effects. Currently there is very scant evidence that this is the best treatment option while others have thought that the multidisciplinary approach to geriatric pain may be the most effective.