Shinu Pottathil, Morsy Mohamed A, Nair Anroop B, Mouslem Abdulaziz K Al, Venugopala Katharigatta N, Goyal Manoj, Bansal Monika, Jacob Shery, Deb Pran Kishore
Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Clinical Pharmacy, King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa 31982, Saudi Arabia.
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Clinical Pharmacy, King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa 31982, Saudi Arabia.
J Clin Med. 2022 May 26;11(11):3002. doi: 10.3390/jcm11113002.
Neuropathic pain affects more than one million people across the globe. The quality of life of people suffering from neuropathic pain has been considerably declining due to the unavailability of appropriate therapeutics. Currently, available treatment options can only treat patients symptomatically, but they are associated with severe adverse side effects and the development of tolerance over prolonged use. In the past decade, researchers were able to gain a better understanding of the mechanisms involved in neuropathic pain; thus, continuous efforts are evident, aiming to develop novel interventions with better efficacy instead of symptomatic treatment. The current review discusses the latest interventional strategies used in the treatment and management of neuropathic pain. This review also provides insights into the present scenario of pain research, particularly various interventional techniques such as spinal cord stimulation, steroid injection, neural blockade, transcranial/epidural stimulation, deep brain stimulation, percutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, neuroablative procedures, opto/chemogenetics, gene therapy, etc. In a nutshell, most of the above techniques are at preclinical stage and facing difficulty in translation to clinical studies due to the non-availability of appropriate methodologies. Therefore, continuing research on these interventional strategies may help in the development of promising novel therapies that can improve the quality of life of patients suffering from neuropathic pain.
神经性疼痛影响着全球超过100万人。由于缺乏合适的治疗方法，患有神经性疼痛的人的生活质量一直在大幅下降。目前，现有的治疗选择只能对症治疗患者，但它们伴有严重的不良副作用，并且长期使用会产生耐受性。在过去十年中，研究人员能够更好地理解神经性疼痛所涉及的机制；因此，不断努力是显而易见的，目标是开发具有更好疗效的新型干预措施，而不是对症治疗。本综述讨论了用于治疗和管理神经性疼痛的最新干预策略。本综述还深入探讨了疼痛研究的现状，特别是各种介入技术，如脊髓刺激、类固醇注射、神经阻滞、经颅/硬膜外刺激、深部脑刺激、经皮电神经刺激、神经消融手术、光/化学遗传学、基因治疗等。简而言之，上述大多数技术都处于临床前阶段，由于缺乏合适的方法，在转化为临床研究方面面临困难。因此，对这些干预策略的持续研究可能有助于开发有前景的新型疗法，从而改善患有神经性疼痛的患者的生活质量。
