[Chronic pain management].

Pain is one of the major complaints leading to doctor visits. Therefore basic knowledge of frequent pain diagnoses and possible treatment approaches is essential. Numerous medical and interventional therapeutic options are available for causal or symptomatic treatment of pain. The treatment of neuropathic pain is often difficult and demands special knowledge. Antidepressants like amitriptyline and anticonvulsive drugs are the first choice in these cases. Also interventional approaches are useful, such as spinal cord stimulation for angina pectoris. For the treatment of complex regional pain syndrome and phantom pain the use of mirror feed-back is a new effective method for pain relief. The only way to prevent from development of chronic pain is the early and effective treatment of acute pain.