Following the success of the first edition of the International Course on Pain Medicine (ICPM), it is my pleasure to announce that the next ICPM will take place on March 31st to April 3rd 2011 in Porto, Portugal.



Pain is one of the main reasons leading patients to seek medical help from their family doctors/general practitioners or other healthcare physicians. Although, in many cases, pain represents the symptom of an underlying disease, if that disease cannot be diagnosed and/or cured, pain becomes chronic and constitutes the major (often the sole) problem of the patient, with a profound impact on his/her quality of life and of the immediate circle of family and friends.