CLINICAL ASSESSMENT SERVICES FOR PAIN MANAGEMENT

At Mayfair Diagnostics, our experienced and sub-specialized radiologists, and clinical specialty colleagues, provide comprehensive musculoskeletal (MSK) and spine care.

We offer a multidisciplinary service that ensures whether you have an MSK or spinal concern, we coordinate a clinical assessment by our specialty colleagues and appropriate imaging to direct the most appropriate pain management treatment plan.

A clinic assessment is often ordered to initiate a comprehensive investigation into the cause for your symptoms. Your health care practitioner would need to request an assessment when they complete the Mayfair pain management requisition.

WHAT IS INVOLVED WITH A CLINICAL ASSESSMENT?

Once the Mayfair Diagnostics booking team receives a requisition with a request for a clinical assessment, a pain management booking specialist will contact you to complete a checklist about your symptoms. Then, your information with be forward to a chronic pain specialist.

Dr. Philip Braithwaite is a chronic pain specialist partnered with Mayfair. He is an experienced specialist in anesthesiology and pain medicine and concentrates full-time on pain management. Dr. Braithwaite is particularly focused on interventional pain therapy and spine assessments, both surgical and non-surgical, attempting to provide the best possible outcomes for these and other pain conditions.

Dr. Braithwaite will review your requisition, the completed symptom checklist, and any applicable diagnostic tests (laboratory tests, imaging in PACS or the Netcare provincial repository, etc.). Once this information has been reviewed, Dr. Braithwaite will consult with you via telephone to determine the most appropriate course of action.

A report will be generated from this consultation and sent to your health care practitioner. If pain management injections form part of the treatment plan, these will be booked on your behalf by Dr. Braithwaite at any of the Mayfair clinics offering these services. You will be contacted to confirm your appointment.

Mayfair Diagnostics offers a variety of pain management procedures at four locations throughout Calgary. For more information about these procedures, please visit our services page. Once your pain management procedure has been completed, a Mayfair radiologist who sub-specializes in pain management will report on the exam. The report will be sent to Dr. Braithwaite and copied to your referring health care practitioner.

You will need to discuss any post-procedure follow-up with your health care practitioner.

WHAT ARE PAIN MANAGEMENT PROCEDURES?

Pain management procedures use X-ray or ultrasound imaging to help treat chronic pain or inflammation by precisely injecting medication through a small needle or performing treatment on soft tissues. For example, a cortisone injection introduces a steroid (an anti-inflammatory medication) into joints, or around tendons or bursa, to decrease inflammation, and reduce pain. Or a hyaluronic acid injection will introduce a gel-like substance to help lubricate the joint and treat pain and osteoarthritis in joints. These procedures allow a small dose of medication to be injected into a localized and specific area of concern while keeping potential side effects to a minimum. They can help manage your pain with little risk and often provide pain relief right away.

Pain management procedures may involve some discomfort or very short-lived pain during the injection and when administering the local anesthetic. However, pain perception depends greatly on your pain threshold and the degree of inflammation of the area involved. Most patients find the pain tolerable. Mayfair’s expert team has extensive experience in performing these procedures and do our very best to make them as quick and painless as possible.

The cost for cortisone injections, tendon calcification, and needling fenestration therapies are fully covered under the Alberta Health Care Insurance plan. Some pain management procedures include a cost for the medication (hyaluronic acid), which is charged at the manufacturer’s cost, or a cost for the entire treatment (APS, platelet-rich plasma injections).

For more information about clinical assessment services, please speak with your health care practitioner or you can contact Mayfair’s booking team at 403-777-3000.