A clinical audit of interventional pain procedures performed as part of the newly initiated pain service in a local neurosurgical centre

Interventional Pain Procedures (IPPs) is a relatively new treatment modality for chronic pain in Malaysia. The Interventional Pain Service (IPS) newly set up in our institution is led by a pain neurosurgeon and provides a whole package of multimodal pain management including different range of IPPs. This clinical audit is to examine the quality of IPPs performed within the IPS in our institution since its initiation. A total of 87 IPPs were performed on 56 chronic pain patients over 3-year duration. As high as 81.8% of the procedures were effective and 81.5% of patients were satisfied. Only one minor transient complication occurred after an intradiscal procedure but none resulted in death or permanent disability. Thus, safe and effective IPPs can be provided as part of IPS in a local neurosurgical pain centre to bring more comprehensive and less fragmented care for chronic pain patients.

What Lurks Beneath: Lacrimal Gland Adenocarcinoma Dedifferentiation to Sarcomatoid Carcinoma

This was a case of a young lady presenting with 10 year history of a mass in the right eye. It was found to be an adenocarcinoma of the lacrimal gland from histopathological biopsy. She underwent wide excision, orbital exenteration and reconstruction with a free rectus abdominis flap. Unfortunately, she had a tumour recurrence which was not controlled by radiotherapy and a second excision. The behavior of the tumour was aggressive, resulting in widespread metastases. She passed away within a year of her presentation. Of note, the histopathology report from the second excision turned out to be sarcomatoid carcinoma. This is described in the literature as dedifferentiation, or high grade transformation (HGT). Occurrence of dedifferentiation in salivary gland tumours is well-established, but not as well-described in lacrimal gland tumours. In this case, there was a severely delayed presentation of a lacrimal gland adenocarcinoma in a young person, which underwent dedifferentiation into a sarcomatoid carcinoma. This phenomena is associated with aggressive tumour biology behavior and poor prognosis, despite surgery and radiotherapy.