The first pain clinic of Lithuania was established at the Vilnius University Hospital Santaros Klinikos twenty five years ago. The anniversary was commemorated at a special conference which took place on October 11, 2019. The keynote speech was held by Dr Alfredas Vaitkus, Chairman of the conference and Head of the Pain Medicine Center at Santaros Klinikos. He noted the great input of Dr Jane Baubliene, founder of the clinic and Dr Lorents Gran, a Norwegian anesthesiologist, who came up with the idea and a team of teachers to establish the first pain clinics in Lithuania. The welcome speeches at the conference were given by Director General of the Hospital, Professor Feliksas Jankevicius and Professor Vytautas Landsbergis, Chairman of the Parliament which reestablished the Independence of Lithuania in 1990. The panel discussion about the ties between Lithuanian pain medicine and the White House was given by Dr Alfredas Vaitkus and Dr John Prunskis, a well-known pain physician and philanthropist from Chicago, Illinois, who is also a presidential appointee to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The first pain clinic was welcomed by Presidents of Latvian and Lithuanian Pain Societies as well by colleagues from other pain clinics of Lithuania, whose number has grown to 20 clinics. Greetings were received from many colleagues and health authorities including the greeting letter from Professor Aurelijus Veryga, the Minister of Health of The Republic of Lithuania.
Nowadays the first pain clinic has grown into a multidisciplinary pain center and leading center of pain medicine in Lithuania. It provides state-of-the-art medical equipment as well as ambulatory and day clinic pain services. The services are provided by six anesthesiologist-reanimatologists (2 of them are certified as Fellows of Interventional Pain Practice by the World Institute of Pain), two medical psychologists and four nurses. Day clinic services include various X-ray and ultrasound-guided invasive procedures including complex techniques such as epidural neuroplasty, sympathetic chemical neurolysis, radiofrequency and cryoablation procedures. With celebrating this significant anniversary, the first pain clinic of Lithuania looks to a future with optimism.
Dr Alfredas Vaitkus, Head of Pain Medicine Center, Vilnius University Hospital Santaros Klinikos
Dr Arunas Sciupokas, President of Lithuanian Pain Society
