Profession
Exhibit examines pain and treatment
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Oct. 16, 2006
A new exhibit, "The Universal Condition: Enduring and Alleviating Pain," is open at the International Museum of Surgical Science in Chicago and will remain on view for a few years. The exhibit educates visitors about pain and medicine's quest to relieve it.
"The Universal Condition" chronicles pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic attempts to control pain from the ancient use of psychoactive plants to contemporary laser therapy to breakthroughs such as inhalation anesthesia. The perception of pain is examined, and case studies provide an in-depth look at some common pain syndromes, explaining their causes and treatments.
Prehistoric trephined skulls, 19th-century anesthesia inhalers and packaging for pain medicines containing opium, cannabis and belladonna are among artifacts from the museum's collection featured in the exhibit. More information is available online (link).
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2006/10/16/prbf1016.htm.
