A new Journal feature entitled Latin American Perspectives on Pain & Palliative Care debuts in this issue. This feature is coordinated by Doctor Sara Bistre, a leading Mexican pain management physician and past president of the Asociaicion Mexicana para Estudio y Tratamiento del Dolor, the Mexican chapter of the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP). Sara also is an officer in the Latin American Federation of IASP Chapters (FEDELAT). Her extensive experience both as a clinician and in developing pain and palliative care policy adds a valued dimension to the Journal.
This issue contains a consensus report of a group of Latin American experts on management of neuropathic pain. Readers will note many similarities and some differences between the Latin American approach and that from other regions of the world. The references in this report represent perhaps the largest grouping of Spanish language articles and reports on neuropathic pain and its management published to date.
Future issues of the Journal will include reports on new legislation pertaining to palliative care in Mexico, other consensus and original reports from that region, and additional perspectives on the pain and palliative care services in this important and rapidly growing part of the world.
Latin American Perspectives on Pain & Palliative Care joins another ongoing Journal feature now entitled European Perspectives on Pain & Palliative Care coordinated by Dr. Elon Eisenberg, a Professor of neurology and leading Israeli pain. Elon is a president of the Israel Pain Association, the Israeli chapter of the IASP and is active in the EFIC, the European Federation of IASP Chapters. These two features provide insights to readers on how our colleagues practice in other parts of the world.
We welcome Dra. Bistre to the Journal Editorial Board and look forward to learning much about how our Latin American colleagues address the seemingly ubiquitous problems of pain and symptom control in acute, chronic, and end-of-life patient care.