Moving towards rational pharmacological management of pain with an improved classification system of pain

Abstract

Recognition that untreated pain can have serious deleterious effects has lead to significant resources being devoted towards understanding physiology, controlling nociception and implementing standards that promise to improve treatment of pain. Recently, improved knowledge and the appreciation of the need for a polypharmaceutical approach has lead to an appreciation that the classification of pain syndromes is the best approach towards rationalising treatment approaches. Older classification approaches such as acute and chronic, neuropathic, or nociceptive have not been universally useful for the clinician [1]. These classification schemes do not recognise that patients with pain often have mixed pain syndromes and do not fall neatly into these schemes. In addition, these classification schemes cannot represent newer advances in the understanding of pain and its physiology. Due to the growing variety of treatment approaches, classification of pain syndromes is often the best first step towards understanding a patient’s pathophysiological process, initiating appropriate treatment and improving patient outcomes.

• classification of pain syndromes
• neuropathic
• nociceptive
• treatment approaches