Description
Centralized Pain Program
Under the leadership of Dr. May C. Ong, the Providence Health Care Chair in the Neurobiology and Neuropharmacology of Pain, the inpatient Centralized Pain Program specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of complex, refractory pain.
In 1986, as a young internist at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver, Dr. May C. Ong (now Providence Health Care’s Chair in the Neurobiology and Neuropharmacology of Pain) organized colleagues, funding and hospital resources in the Department of Medicine to create Canada’s only multi-disciplinary pain program providing both out and inpatient pain services to diagnose and treat complex, chronic pain. Since then, the Centralized Pain Program has significantly improved the lives of thousands of patients who suffer from terrible, ongoing pain.
Today, the Centralized Pain Program’s beds in the Department of Medicine remain the only dedicated inpatient facilities for chronic pain patients in Canada. The inpatient program is also British Columbia’s only tertiary facility for the diagnosis and treatment of patients whose complex, chronic pain has not improved with outpatient management.
Investigation, diagnosis & treatment
The Centralized Pain Program carries out relevant investigation and diagnostic/ therapeutic intervention.
Treatment may include inpatient multiday, subanesthetic dose IV ketamine infusion.
Conditions treated in the centralized pain program
The Centralized Pain Program specializes in mechanism-based diagnoses and target specific treatment of complex, refractory chronic pain, especially for patients with neuropathic pain.
Conditions treated include:
- Central neuropathic pain (e.g.; multiple sclerosis; anesthesia dolorosa; thalamic stroke)
- Chemo-induced neuropathy
- Chronic migraine headache, chronic daily persistent headache
- Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) with or without dystonia.
- Fibromyalgia/central sensitization syndrome (CSS), and
- Peripheral Neuropathy (e.g.; traumatic; diabetic; post herpetic neuralgia / shingle).
Dr. May C. Ong received her MD degree from the University of Toronto in 1978. She then took three years of training in Internal Medicine plus one and a half years training in Anaesthesia. Dr. Ong subsequently carried out two years of postdoctoral fellowship in Clinical Pharmacology at the University of British Columbia. Since 1984, Dr. Ong has been a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.
Since 1986, Dr. Ong has been in full time practice specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of chronic pain. In 1986 she founded the Complex Pain Centre (now called the Centralized Pain Program) in the Department of Medicine at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver.
Dr. Ong is a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of British Columbia where she trains neurology residents, family practice physicians and medical students in mechanism-based diagnosis and pain management.
Dr. Ong is also a clinician-scientist whose research investigates the management of chronic pain. Her research includes the treatment of chronic headache and the efficacy of multi-day, IV Ketamine infusion in patients with refractory neuropathic pain.
In recognition of Dr. Ong’s clinical mastery and research contributions, in 2023 Providence Health Care appointed her its first Chair in the Neurobiology and Neuropharmacology of Pain.
Contact
Telephone: (604) 689-0279
Fax: (604) 688-2507
Email: burrardpaindoctors@gmail.com
Medical & professional referrals
Physicians should make all referrals to Dr. May C. Ong at:
Address: 503 – 1160 Burrard Street, Vancouver, B.C. V6Z 2E8
Telephone: (604) 689-0279
Fax: (604) 688-2507
Email: burrardpaindoctors@gmail.com
With her team, Dr. Ong will, in a patient’s initial appointment, screen and triage the patient for eligibility for the Centralized Pain Program.