Paliatívna medicína a liečba bolesti 2/2011

Neuropathic pain – new trends of pharmacotherapy

Neuropathic pain is caused by damage or dysfunction of central and peripheral nervous system. It represents various pain conditions of different etiology, localization of anatomical lesion and patophysiological mechanisms. Prevalence is around 2 – 3 %. Conventional classification of neuropathic pain (NP) distinguishing central and peripheral pain is based on anatomical localisation of initiating lesion with an etiological sub-classification. But in this time the new classification based on pathophysiological mechanisms is needed to serve as target for medical pain management. The diagnosis of neuropathic pain is based primarily on the patient´s history and detailed physical and neurological examination. The management of neuropathic pain remains difficult problem despite the great progress in the understanding of patophysiological mechanisms.

Keywords: neuropathic pain, classification, patophysiologic mechanisms, farmacotherapy.