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Sensory Nerves pp 3–30Cite as

Neuropathic Pain: A Clinical Perspective

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Part of the book series: Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology ((HEP,volume 194))

Abstract

Neuropathic pain syndromes, i.e., pain after a lesion or disease of the peripheral or central nervous system, are clinically characterized by spontaneous pain (ongoing, paroxysms) and evoked types of pain (hyperalgesia, allodynia). A variety of distinct pathophysiological mechanisms in the peripheral and central nervous system operate in concert: In some patients the nerve lesion triggers molecular changes in nociceptive neurons that become abnormally sensitive and develop pathological spontaneous activity (upregulation of sodium channels and receptors, e.g., vanilloid TRPV1 receptors, menthol-sensitive TRPM8 receptors, or α-receptors). These phenomena may lead to spontaneous pain, shooting pain sensations, as well as heat hyperalgesia, cold hyperalgesia, and sympathetically maintained pain. Spontaneous activity in damaged large nonnociceptive A-fibers may lead to paresthesias. All these changes may also occur in uninjured neurons driven by substances released by adjacent dying cells and should receive more attention in the future. The hyperactivity in nociceptors in turn induces secondary changes (hyperexcitability) in processing neurons in the spinal cord and brain. This central sensitization causes input from mechanoreceptive A-fibers to be perceived as pain (mechanical allodynia). Neuroplastic changes in the central descending pain modulatory systems (inhibitory or facilitatory) may lead to further hyperexcitability. Neuropathic pain represents a major neurological problem and treatment of patients with such pain has been largely neglected by neurologists in the past. The medical management of neuropathic pain consists of five main classes of oral medication (antidepressants with reuptake blocking effect, anticonvulsants with sodium-blocking action, anticonvulsants with calcium-modulating actions, tramadol, and opioids) and several categories of topical medications for patients with cutaneous allodynia and hyperalgesia (capsaicin and local anesthetics). In many cases an early combination of compounds effecting different mechanisms is useful. At present existing trials only provide general pain relief values for specific causes, which in part may explain the failure to obtain complete pain relief in neuropathic pain conditions. In general, the treatment of neuropathic pain is still unsatisfactorily. Therefore, a new hypothetical concept was proposed in which pain is analyzed on the basis of underlying mechanisms. The increased knowledge of pain-generating mechanisms and their translation into symptoms and signs may in the future allow a dissection of the mechanisms that operate in each patient. If a systematic clinical examination of the neuropathic pain patient and a precise phenotypic characterization is combined with a selection of drugs acting against those particular mechanisms, it should ultimately be possible to design optimal treatments for the individual patient.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG Ba 1921/1-2), the German Ministry of Research and Education within the German Research Network on Neuropathic Pain (BMBF, 01EM01/04), and an unrestricted educational grant from Pfizer (Germany).

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  1. Sektion Neurologische Schmerzforschung und Therapie, Klinik für Neurologie, Christian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel, Schittenhelmstr. 10, 24105, Kiel, Germany

    Ralf Baron

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  1. Dept. Medicine, Johns Hopkins Asthma & Allergy Center, Hopkins Bayview Circle 5501, Baltimore, 21224, U.S.A.

    Brendan J. Canning

  2. School of Biomedical & Health Sciences, King's College London, Guy's Campus, London, SE1 9RT, United Kingdom

    Domenico Spina

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Baron, R. (2009). Neuropathic Pain: A Clinical Perspective. In: Canning, B., Spina, D. (eds) Sensory Nerves. Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology, vol 194. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-79090-7_1

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