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Sympathetic component of neuropathic pain: Animal models and clinical diagnosis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 1997

Laszlo A. Urban
Affiliation:
Novartis Institute for Medical Sciences, London, WC1E 6BN, United [email protected]

Abstract

Although clinical studies and animal models seem to establish an important role for the sympathetic nervous system in many forms of neuropathic and inflammatory pain, there is an ongoing debate on the classification of pain syndromes with sympathetic components. The confusion originates from several sources: failure to acknowledge that the pathomechanism of chronic pain can change during the progress of the disease, which is now strongly underlined by experimental data from suitable animal models. Neuropathic pain is a vaguely defined collection of pain syndromes which includes painful conditions with diverse and largely unknown patho-mechanisms. Clinical diagnosis is difficult and well designed, placebo controlled sympathectomy is rarely performed. [blumberg et al.]

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
© 1997 Cambridge University Press

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