Mechanisms of disease: mechanism-based classification of neuropathic pain-a critical analysis.

Classification of neuropathic pain according to etiology or localization has clear limitations. The discovery of specific molecular and cellular events following experimental nerve injury has raised the possibility of classifying neuropathic pain on the basis of the underlying neurobiological mechanisms. Application of this approach in the clinic is problematic, however, owing to a lack of precise tools to assess symptoms and signs, and difficulties in correlating symptoms and signs with mechanisms. Development and validation of diagnostic methods to identify mechanisms, together with pharmacological agents that specifically target these mechanisms, seems to be the most logical and rational way of improving neuropathic pain treatment.