ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the etiology of the symptoms of neuropathic pain conditions and examines how these conditions can be diagnosed both at the bedside and in the laboratory using more sophisticated experimental techniques. It presents a detailed description of current mechanisms, some of which are still hypothetical. In addition, neuropathic pains in practice may be difficult to distinguish and diagnose, with a risk of both false-positive and false-negative diagnoses. Neuropathic pain is not a single entity; it includes heterogeneous conditions that differ not only in etiology, but also in location of the underlying pathology. Neuropathic pain has usually been classified on the basis of the underlying etiology, example peripheral diabetic neuropathy, postherpetic neuralgia, nerve damage due to injury, spinal or brain lesions following infarction, or multiple sclerotic plaques. Plotting the distribution of various types of pain on a template body map is an important initial step in pain assessment.
