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Continuing Education in Anaesthesia, Critical Care & Pain 2008 8(6):210-213; doi:10.1093/bjaceaccp/mkn037
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© The Board of Management and Trustees of the British Journal of Anaesthesia [2008]. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Assessment of neuropathic pain

Sarah Callin, MBBS MRCP
SpR Palliative Medicine
Chronic Pain Team
Seacroft Hospital
York Road
Leeds
LS146UH, UK

Michael I. Bennett, MD FRCP
Senior Clinical Lecturer in Palliative Medicine
Clinical Teaching and Research Unit
St Gemma’s Hospice
Leeds
LS17 6QD, UK
Professor of Palliative Medicine
International Observatory on End of Life Care
Institute for Health Research
Lancaster University
Bowland Tower East
Lancaster
LA1 4YT, UK
Tel: +44 1524 593309 E-mail: m.i.bennett@lancaster.ac.uk

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.


Key points

Neuropathic pain is initiated or caused by a primary lesion or dysfunction of the nervous system.
A consensus regarding the classification and assessment of neuropathic pain has yet to be reached.
The diseases responsible for neuropathic pain are diverse; the clinical presentation of pain can vary widely between individuals despite the same underlying aetiology.
Common features of neuropathic pain include spontaneous and evoked pains.
Investigations may help to identify evidence of nerve dysfunction but it cannot be assumed that it is necessarily the cause of their pain.

 

Neuropathic pain is defined as ‘pain initiated or caused by a primary lesion or dysfunction of the nervous system’.1 It can be a debilitating and difficult condition to treat and is often resistant to simple analgesics, requiring additional analgesic approaches.2 Recent estimates suggest that up to 8% of the general population suffer with pain that is associated with neuropathic features and, . . . [Full Text of this Article]


   Classification of pain
 

   Causes of neuropathic pain
 

   Neuropathic pain mechanisms
 

   Clinical assessment
 
Pain assessment

Clinical features of neuropathic pain

Co-morbidities

Psychosocial history


   Examination
 
Bedside tests


   Additional tests and investigations
 

   Screening tools for neuropathic pain
 

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