Pain Management  Anesthesiologic Approaches  Neurostimulatory Approaches  Pharmacological Approaches  Psychological/Mind-Body Therapies  Rehabilitative Approaches  Surgical Approaches Conventional Approaches Surgical Approaches Surgery is usually performed to treat the underlying disorder. Rarely, a surgical procedure may be suggested as a primary treatment to relieve pain. These procedures involve specific lesions in the nervous system. They are usually considered only for highly selected patients. For example, a patient who has a painful neuroma develop after a nerve injury might be cured if the neuroma is removed. Patients with so-called sympathetically-maintained pain are sometimes offered surgery that cuts sympathetic nerves. Patients with cancer or other serious diseases are occasionally offered a surgical technique in which a cut is made in nerves or the spinal cord to try to block activity in the nervous system that may be sustaining the pain. All of these surgical approaches have some risks, and the availability of new therapies, such as neuraxial infusion and spinal cord stimulation, has steadily decreased their use.