Montefiore Einstein Neuroradiologists Team Up with Ukrainian Doctors Seeking Latest Pain Management Techniques for Devastating Wartime Injuries

Easing pain and improving quality of life are universal goals in medicine that become more urgent and difficult to achieve in times of war. That’s why Montefiore Einstein was proud to recently host a medical and surgical team from Feofaniya Clinical Hospital in Kyiv, Ukraine, that was here to learn new pain management techniques, with a focus on spinal cord stimulation for treatment of phantom limb pain. Montefiore Einstein was one of only two New York institutions the team visited to learn these procedures.

“We are blessed with having this team from Ukraine here at Montefiore Einstein,” said Allan L. Brook, MD, Director, Interventional Neuroradiology, Montefiore Einstein, and Professor, Radiology (Neuroradiology) and Neurological Surgery, Albert Einstein College of Medicine. “We hope the procedures we help them with can make a difference in someone’s life. Spinal cord stimulation is one of the only effective treatments for amputee or phantom limb pain.”

During Ukraine’s war with Russia, serious traumatic injuries, including limb loss, have become startlingly common. So, too, has the incidence of phantom limb pain, a debilitating and difficult-to-treat complication of amputation. For the physicians at Feofaniya Clinical Hospital, where up to 25 patients per day undergo surgery for serious military trauma, treating this lingering pain is a top priority.

Dr. Brook was among the Montefiore Einstein neuroradiologists who helped train the Ukrainian team, including Andrii Strokan, MD, Chief Clinical Medical Officer, Feofaniya Clinical Hospital; Oleksandr Klymenko, MD, of the hospital’s Center for Pain Management; and Adrii Khomenko, MD.

The plan moving forward is to develop a relationship where the Ukrainian team can review cases with Montefiore Einstein physicians virtually and receive advice on the procedures we are performing, as necessary. “It’s our aim to learn while we are here, and when we return to Ukraine, to share this knowledge with other Ukrainian doctors,” Dr. Strokan said.

During the team’s visit, Dr. Strokan presented a special grand rounds lecture at the Moses campus. His talk addressed the social, organizational and medical aspects of treating wartime casualties at Feofaniya—a civilian hospital—during the ongoing Ukraine war.

“It’s a very difficult time for us, and in many ways, for the world,” Dr. Strokan said. “But now that your organization has helped us, it gives us hope.”