[Towards a pain treatment based on the identification of the physiopathological mechanisms].
The selection of a pain treatment should be based on the identification of the mechanisms of its origin. Nowadays, many patients with chronic pain continue to suffer severe pain. Failure to obtain a satisfactory response is often ascribed to individual peculiarities in drug metabolism, tolerance, resistance to common analgesics or to psychological factors. However, difficulties in elucidating pain-generating mechanisms may be the main source of insufficient pain management. These difficulties can be explained by several factors including: the unsuitability of the usual classification of pain, the use of etiology and symptom criteria as the main dimension of pain to guide the choice of therapeutic agent, the inadequate interpretation of sensory deficit, the lack of identification of the injured tissues and the lack of use of psychophysical methods to assess pain. This article reviews some fundamental knowledge to determine pain treatment based on the identification of the physiopathological mechanisms of pain.
Dallel
R
R
Laboratoire de Physiologie Oro-Faciale, Faculté de Chirurgie Dentaire, 11, bd Charles-de-Gaulle, 63000 Clermont-Ferrand (France). radhouane.dallel@u-clermont.fr
D000700:Analgesics / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002908:Chronic Disease; D006801:Humans; D010146:Pain / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D059408:Pain Management
D000700:Analgesics