Media Release 

Ajman, Mar 7: Gulf Medical University, Ajman-U.A.E. hosted the first Interventional Pain Management Techniques Review & Workshop for Spine and Other Disorders 2011 on the 4th & 5th   of  March, 2011 at its campus in Ajman.

15 leading pain specialists from the region participated in the workshop which was conducted for the first time in UAE by Dr. Tariq Tramboo, MD., FIPP (USA). Dr. Hussein Abu-Khudair from Jordan Pain Society and Dr. Nafez Shelbaye, Consultant Anaesthesiologist and Pain Specialist from King Hussein Cancer Centre, Jordan assisted Dr. Tramboo in conducting the workshop. The workshop was conducted on cadaver at the Anatomy Lab in College of Medicine GMU.
Pain specialists from Jordan, Egypt, Kuwait, Iran, UAE and India participated in the two day intensive workshop.

The aim of the workshop was to

• Train pain Physicians from Middle East and abroad in Interventional Pain Management Techniques.

• Provide hands-on experience to physicians licensed to practise in Middle East and demonstration workshop for physicians from abroad.

• Provide didactic teaching on interventional pain management techniques.

• Optimizing patient safety, procedural knowledge and expertise.
Dr. Tariq Tramboo, Vice Chairman of World Institute of Pain (India Chapter) and Chairman of Relief Pain Clinics in India conducted the workshop at Gulf Medical University, Ajman-U.A.E. He has the distinction of performing the maximum number of pain procedures till now in the world (15000), including simple procedures like Transforaminal block to Intradiscal procedures and spinal augmentation procedures. He is the first Indian to qualify; FIPP USA. (FIPP is the highest possible practical examinations for pain in the world with highest standards). Dr. Tariq became the Examiner for WIP and ABIPP (American Board of Interventional Pain Physician) in 2010. He is also the Inventor of TRA-P: Proposed use to remove extruded Disk material percutaneously thus eliminates the need of surgery on spine.

Dr. Tariq praised the world-class facilities at Gulf Medical University (GMU) and has offered to conduct more such workshops in the near future. The delegates had a meeting with the Founder President of Gulf Medical University Mr. Thumbay Moideen and explained the importance of Interventional Pain Management urged to conduct specialised training programmes at GMU. Mr. Thumbay Moideen has agreed to offer all help in conducting more such trainings and teaching programmes at the university.

Dr. Arif Shehi from Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, Abu Dhabi, who was one of the participants felt that the workshop was very useful in learning new techniques related to pain management and expressed that such workshops will help train the local specialists in learning latest trends in pain management.
Dr. Hussein Abu-Khudair, Chairman of Jordan Pain Society feels that UAE has a lot of potential and can become one of the leading centres in the region. There is a vast scope to treat patients from all over the region once the local doctors are trained on such techniques. Thanks to Gulf Medical University for pioneering in this direction by hosting the first such training programme in the UAE, he said.
About the Workshop:
Interventional Pain Procedures covered
1. Basic Techniques
• Facet Joint injections
• Transforaminal and interlaminar epidural injections
• Diagnostic medial branch block for facet joints.
2. Intermediate techniques
• Radiofrequency ablation of the medial branches.
• Epidural adhesiolysis.
• Diagnostic provocation discography.
3. Advanced Techniques
• Percutaneous disc decompression
• Ozone Nucleolysis
• Automated percutaneous disectomy.
• Spinal cord stimulator lead placement
• Spinal cord stimulator IPG placement.
Didactic Lectures covered following topics
• Physiology and anatomy of pain pathways
• Fluroscopic interpretation of the spine for various procedures.
• Radiation safety for Interventional Pain Physician.
• Facet and Sacroiliac joint intra-articular injections.
• Radiofrequency ablation of the medial branches(facet nerves)
• Diagnostic and provocative discography.
• Percutaneous discectomy techniques.
• Percutaneous disc decompression techniques.
• Spinal cord stimulation
• Complications in Interventional Pain management.
Dr. Sherifuddin Sheriff Shaik MBBS, DFM, FCGP (India) a Physician and an entrepreneur from India coordinated and facilitated the workshop.