• Milan Cvijanović, Svetlana Simić, Sofija Banić Horvat, Zita Jovin, Petar Slankamenac, and Miroslav Ilin.
• Klinicki centar Vojvodine, Novi Sad, Klinika za neurologiju. emgnscvij@gmail.com
• Med. Pregl. 2011 Sep 1; 64 (9-10): 443-7.

IntroductionNeuropathic pain, or pain associated with disease or injury to the peripheral or central nervous system, is a common symptom of a heterogeneous group of conditions, including diabetic neuropathy; trigeminal neuralgia, postherpetic neuralgia and spinal cord injury. Chronic neuropathic pain should not be thought of as a symptom. It should truly be thought of as a disease with a very complicated pathophysiology.PathophysiologyThe mechanisms involved in neuropathic pain are complex and involve both peripheral and central pathophysiologic phenomenon. The underlying dysfunction may involve deafferentation within the peripheral nervous system (e.g. neuropathy), deafferentation within the central nervous system (e.g. post-thalamic stroke) or an imbalance between the two (e.g. phantom limb pain).Clinical CharacteristicsNeuropathic pain is non-nociceptive, in contrast to acute nociceptive pain, and it can be described as "burning", "electric", "tingling", and "shooting" in nature.TreatmentRational polypharmacy is often necessary and actually it is almost always the rule. It would be an exception if a patient was completely satisfied with his treatment. Treatment goals should include understanding that our patients may need to be titrated and managed with more than one agent and one type of treatment. There should be the balance of safety, efficacy, and tolerability.ConclusionThere are many new agents and new applications of the existing agents being currently studied which will most certainly lead to even more improved ways of managing this very complicated set of disorders.

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