SYMPATHETIC COMPONENT OF NEUROPATHIC PAIN - ANIMAL-MODELS AND CLINICAL-DIAGNOSIS

Although clinical studies and animal models seem to establish an impor tant role for the sympathetic nervous system in many forms of neuropat hic and inflammatory pain, there is an ongoing debate on the classific ation of pain syndromes with sympathetic components. The confusion ori ginates from several sources: failure to acknowledge that the pathomec hanism of chronic pain can change during the progress of the disease, which is now strongly underlined by experimental data from suitable an imal models. Neuropathic pain is a vaguely defined collection of pain syndromes which includes painful conditions with diverse and largely u nknown patho-mechanisms. Clinical diagnosis is difficult and well desi gned, placebo controlled sympathectomy is rarely performed.