Published in Current Review of Pain
This review focuses on the advances in the development of N-type calcium channel blockers as analgesic agents over the last 2 years. Firstly, it highlights the clinical progress with SNX-111 (Ziconotide; Elan Pharmaceuticals, Smithfield, RI) and then secondly, it outlines the various approaches being taken by researchers to design orally active, se...
Published in Current Review of Pain
Visceral pain is of great concern to the medical community because it remains particularly resistant to current clinical treatments. A serendipitous and initially unexplainable clinical finding that a punctate midline dorsal column lesion is effective in eliminating visceral pain, however, has initiated a resurgence of interest in the study of the ...
Published in Current Review of Pain
Two approaches to genetic therapy for the management of chronic pain have recently been investigated in animal models of pain. First, transgene-mediated delivery of antinociceptive molecules to the cerebrospinal fluid has been performed with engineered cell lines transplanted to the subarachnoid space and with recombinant adenoviruses that transduc...
Published in Current Review of Pain
Published in Current Review of Pain
Postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) is the most common complication of herpes zoster, and as such has been an area of extensive medical research for the past three decades. The patients at highest risk for PHN include those older than 50 years, those with severe acute cases of zoster, and those with shingles in a trigeminal distribution. As persons with m...
Published in Current Review of Pain
A considerable number of functional imaging studies have demonstrated the involvement of multiple central regions during the experience of pain. These regions process information in circuits that can broadly be assumed to process the affective, sensory, cognitive, motor, inhibitory, and autonomic responses stimulated by a noxious event. The concept...
Published in Current Review of Pain
The nomenclature, pathophysiology, and treatment modalities of complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) are controversial. Thus far there are no specific, scientifically valid treatments for the management of CRPS. The numerous modalities of treatment range from sympathetic ganglion blocks, intravenous regional blocks, administration of a multitude of...
Published in Current Review of Pain
This review summarizes recent developments in the context of the neurochemical classification of nociceptors and explores the relationships between functionally and neurochemically defined subgroups. Although the complete picture is not yet available, several lines of intriguing evidence suggest that despite the complexity and diversity of nocicept...
Published in Current Review of Pain
Visceral pain, although different from somatic pain in several important features, is not as widely researched and consequently our knowledge of neurophysiologic mechanisms as well as clinical management of visceral pain states remains unsatisfactory. Several recent studies have employed different visceral pain animal models to provide insight into...
Published in Current Review of Pain
Pharmacologic, electrophysiologic, and immunohistochemical studies have suggested a role of nitric oxide (NO) in nociception processing. Recent studies have indicated that NO may modulate spinal and sensory neuron excitability through multiple mechanisms that may underlie its distinctive roles in different pain states. Differential regulation of a ...
