Articles: neuralgia.
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Revista de neurologia · Feb 2006
Review[Pregabalin: new therapeutic contributions of calcium channel alpha2delta protein ligands on epilepsy and neuropathic pain].
To review and update the contributions of a new class of drugs, named calcium channel alpha2delta protein ligands, on the treatment of epilepsy and neuropathic pain. ⋯ Pregabalin and calcium channel alpha2delta protein ligands showed relevant advances on epilepsy and neuropathic pain treatment. In peripheral neuropathic pain conditions, if the criteria for efficacy are based on both pain relief and quality of life measures, pregabalin/gabapentin are suggested as choice treatment.
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Nat Clin Pract Neuro · Feb 2006
ReviewMechanisms of disease: neuropathic pain--a clinical perspective.
Neuropathic pain syndromes-pain after a lesion or disease of the peripheral or central nervous system-are clinically characterized by spontaneous and evoked types of pain, which are underpinned by various distinct pathophysiological mechanisms in the peripheral and central nervous systems. In some patients, the nerve lesion triggers molecular changes in nociceptive neurons, which become abnormally sensitive and develop pathological spontaneous activity. Inflammatory reactions of the damaged nerve trunk can induce ectopic nociceptor activity, causing spontaneous pain. ⋯ The increased knowledge of pain-generating mechanisms and their translation into symptoms and signs might eventually allow a dissection of the mechanisms that operate in each patient. If a precise clinical phenotypic characterization of the neuropathic pain is combined with a selection of drugs that act on those mechanisms, it should ultimately be possible to design optimal treatments for individuals. This review discusses the conceptual framework of the novel mechanism-based classification, encouraging the reader to see neuropathic pain as a clinical entity rather than a compilation of single disease states.
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Nat Clin Pract Neuro · Feb 2006
ReviewMechanisms of disease: mechanism-based classification of neuropathic pain-a critical analysis.
Classification of neuropathic pain according to etiology or localization has clear limitations. The discovery of specific molecular and cellular events following experimental nerve injury has raised the possibility of classifying neuropathic pain on the basis of the underlying neurobiological mechanisms. Application of this approach in the clinic is problematic, however, owing to a lack of precise tools to assess symptoms and signs, and difficulties in correlating symptoms and signs with mechanisms. Development and validation of diagnostic methods to identify mechanisms, together with pharmacological agents that specifically target these mechanisms, seems to be the most logical and rational way of improving neuropathic pain treatment.
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Curr Pain Headache Rep · Feb 2006
ReviewRational multidrug therapy in the treatment of neuropathic pain.
Multidrug therapy (MDT) has been widely accepted and used as a standard of practice in most areas of medical practice, including neuropathic pain. Because neuropathic pain is a new field of medical science and practice, standards for its treatment including MDT are still evolving. In this article, we present rationale and principals for the MDT of neuropathic pain based on our best understandings of the underlying mechanisms of the disease processes and the actions of drugs, the goal being to maximize benefits and minimize adverse effects. MDT for neuropathic pain is based on a comprehensive clinical neuropathic pain assessment and ongoing monitoring of the drug therapy's efficacy and adverse effects, administering one drug at the time.
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Review Comparative Study
[Varicella-zoster virus infections--2: Zoster pain -- therapy and prevention].