Dr Suellen Walker has a clinical academic post as Associate Professor at UCL GOS Institute of Child Health and Honorary Consultant in Paediatric Anaesthesia and Pain Medicine at Great Ormond Street Hospital. She is a Principal Investigator within the UCL GOS ICH Paediatric Pain Research Group, a cross-disciplinary group that undertakes laboratory and clinical research related to the understanding and management of pain in children.
Suellen’s research interests include the long-term effects of neonatal pain, with translational research in extremely preterm born children and young adults and laboratory studies evaluating underlying mechanisms and preventive strategies, which was the topic of her IASP World Congress on Pain plenary lecture. Her current clinical research focusses on neuropathic pain in children, in collaboration with clinical and research groups at GOSH, ICH, Yale School of Medicine and University of Toronto.
The presentation
Neuropathic pain in children can be difficult to diagnose and manage, and there is very limited evidence to guide current pharmacological treatment. Underlying causes can include traumatic or post-surgical injury, rare metabolic and genetic causes, cancer and/or its treatment and neurological conditions. Screening tools have been developed for adults but require validation in children. Recent research aiming to improve characterisation of neuropathic pain by a multimodal approach that encompasses screening tools, patient-reported outcomes, Quantitative Sensory Testing and neuroimaging will be discussed.
Background
The Pain Forum was launched in 2000 after the recognition that pain was of interest to a large number of healthcare professionals in the greater Bath area. These meetings have been well supported by clinicians in the local area. We invite world leaders in pain research to present their work and discuss developments. These speakers are chosen for the high quality of their research and their ability to communicate it well. Perhaps the most important part of the forum is that everyone is invited to carry on discussions afterwards.
This event is supported by the Integrated Pain Management Health Integration Team (IPM HIT) on behalf of Bristol Health Partners.
Bath Pain Forum: Neuropathic pain in children
Royal National Hospital For Rheumatic Diseases, Upper Borough Walls
