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John D. Loeser, MD, Department Editor
Reviewed by John D. Loeser, MD
P.T. Hansson, H.F. Fields, R.G. Hill, & P. Marchettini (eds.), IASP Press, Seattle, 2001, 277 pages, $55 IASP members ($79 IASP nonmembers) (hard cover), ISBN 0-931092-38-8
This book is a compendium of presentations made at two satellite meetings to the 1999 IASP Congress in Vienna. It has an all-star cast of authors and addresses both research and clinical aspects of neuropathic pain. The initial chapter by Hansson, Lacerenza, and Marchettini sets the limits for the subsequent chapters by addressing issues in definition, treatments, and experimental models. Subsequent chapters cover the experimental data regarding sodium channels, cytokines, functions of human primary nociceptors, proposed mechanisms of central nervous system plasticity, tonic descending facilitation, the sympathetic nervous system, and mechanisms in postherpetic neuralgia. Next comes a series of chapters on the treatments of neuropathic pain including antidepressants, anticonvulsants, opioids, topical local anesthetics, and electrical stimulation of the central nervous system. The final chapter is an elegant synthesis by Fields and Hill that describes the current state of scientific and clinical knowledge about neuropathic pain and makes some provocative statements about future developments.
There is a useful index and the book is nicely produced. The price is relatively low, in keeping with the IASP goal of aiding in the dissemination of information about pain and its treatment. The understanding of the mechanisms underlying neuropathic pain states seems to be rapidly expanding, although new treatment strategies have yet to reach the marketplace. This is a useful book to serve as a starting point for learning about this important facet of chronic pain.
John Loeser is a professor of neurological surgery and anesthesiology at the University of Washington in Seattle.
