Neurobiology of disease
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Neurobiology of disease · Oct 1998
ReviewPostherpetic neuralgia: irritable nociceptors and deafferentation.
Postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) is a common and often devastatingly painful condition. It is also one of the most extensively investigated of the neuropathic pains. Patients with PHN have been studied using quantitative testing of primary afferent function, skin biopsies, and controlled treatment trials. ⋯ Other deafferentation patients have severe spontaneous pain without hyperalgesia or allodynia and presumably have lost both large and small diameter fibers. In this group the pain is likely due to increased spontaneous activity in deafferented central neurons and/or reorganization of central connections. These three types of mechanism may coexist in individual patients and each offers the possibility for developing new therapeutic interventions.