Dr Arun Bhaskar Consultant in pain medicine

Background

Dr Arun Bhaskar graduated from the University of Kerala medical school, India. He subsequently completed his specialist training at the north west deanery, UK in 2006 and started his consultant career at the Christie NHS Foundation Trust in Manchester. In addition to Royal College fellowships in anaesthesia, pain medicine and intensive care, he also has a fellowship in interventional pain practice. Dr Bhaskar has special interests in complex pain, including neuropathic pain, cancer pain, visceral and pelvic pain, pain interventions and neuromodulation.

Dr Bhaskar also has a specific interest in opioid management in complicated cancer pain, as well as opioid dependence and its management in the pain patient population. He has been involved with several clinical trials in cancer pain and neuropathic pain in cancer including chemotherapy-induced neuropathy. He has been involved in developing novel techniques for interventional treatment of pain including intractable cancer pain.

Dr Bhaskar is on the faculty of many courses, including the European Pain School. He is an examiner for the European Diploma in pain medicine and also the FIPP examination for the World Institute of Pain. He writes a regular column in the European Pain News and serves as section editor for the Journal of Observational Pain Medicine. He is an elected member of the Council of the British Pain Society and is also the executive liaison for the Society’s interventional pain special interest group (SIG), neuropathic pain SIG and cancer pain committee. He also chairs the communications committee.

Dr Bhaskar is the honorary secretary of the Neuromodulation Society of the UK and Ireland (NSUKI). He is also the co-chair of the neuromodulation for pain guidelines committee of the British Pain Society and NSUKI. He is the present chairman of the UK section of the World Institute of Pain. Dr Bhaskar advises the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) on interventional procedures, cancer pain and was a co-opted member of the guideline development group for care of the dying.

Dr Bhaskar was a contributing author towards the British Pain Society’s ‘cancer pain management’ document in 2010 and is currently the co-chair of the committee for the cancer pain management guidelines of the British Pain Society. He is also a member of the European Pain Federation Task Force on cancer pain management. Dr Bhaskar is the co-chair for the OPEN Consensus group for opioid analgesic dependency. He is also the immediate past-chair of the Northwest Pain Clinicians, UK, and was a member of the steering group of the Northern England Pain Society. Dr Bhaskar was also part of the scientific committee for European Pain Federation, EFIC 2017 and is also the co-chair of the International Meeting of the Spinal Interventional Society, London 2018 and president-elect of the British Pain Society.

Expertise

Cancer pain, neuropathic pain, back and neck pain, visceral pain, long-term management of patients on opioids, interventional pain management, neuromodulation, fibromyalgia, complex pain issues

Research & publications

Co-author of “Chronic post-surgical pain and cancer: the catch of surviving the unsurvivable” Accepted for publication in Current Opinion in Supportive & Palliative Care June 2018 

Author of “Standing on the shoulders of giants”. Pain News – 50th Anniversary of British Pain Society Special Edition April 2017

Co-author of “ Consensus and controversies between pain and addiction experts on the prevention, diagnosis and management of opioid analgesic dependence”. Journal of Addiction Medicine – accepted for publication January 2017

Co-author of “Skin matters! The role of keratinocytes in nociception: a rational argument for the development of topical analgesics”. Journal of Pain Research – December 2016

Co-author of “Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy” in BJA Education, British Journal of Anaesthesia – April 2016

Co-author of “Pain and suffering in cancer patients” in Modern Believing – April 2015

Co-author of book chapter “Use of topical capsaicin for pain relief” in TRP Channels as Therapeutic Targets – Elsevier – April 2015

Co-author of “Localized neuropathic pain: 5% lidocaine medicated plaster as a first line treatment and as add-on therapy: literature review and personal experience” in Minerva Medica June 2014

Co-author of “Analgesic effects of topical ketamine” in Minerva Anestesiologica May 2014

Co-author of “Cancer pain management part 2: interventional management” in Continuing Education in Anaesthesia, Critical Care & Pain, British journal of Anaesthesia – April 2014

Co-author of “Cancer pain management part 1: general principles” in Continuing Education in Anaesthesia, Critical care & Pain, British Journal of Anaesthesia – February 2014

Co-author of the review article “Experience in using the high concentration capsaicin patch in the management of neuropathic pain” – Therapeutic Advances in Neurological Disorders (2013) 6 (5) 287- 297 DOI:10.1177/1756285613496862

Author of “interventional management of cancer pain”: Current opinion in supportive and palliative care – accepted for publication December 2011; published March 2012

Author of “Local management of localised neuropathic pain” Reviews, British Journal of Pain

Private practice

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