Neuropathic pain is a pain caused by damage or disease affecting the somatosensory nervous system
(peripheral or central). There may be various origins of NP, such as infection, trauma, metabolic disorders,
chemotherapy, surgery and/or neural compression. Patients usually report a continuous burning pain, which
may be accompanied by paroxysms of lancinating or electrical pain - spontaneous or secondary to small
stimuli. Pain may occur as response to a painful stimulus (hyperalgesia), or in response to non-painful stimuli
(allodynia). Neuropathic pain is difficult to treat because of different symptoms and mechanisms involved
in its occurrence. Although opioid analgesics can be an effective treatment option in many cases of severe chronic pain, in many cases of neuropathic pain conditions using them alone may not be fully effective.
Opioids are usually considered as a second or third line treatment option in neuropathic pain. In many
cases an effective treatment cannot be achieved due to poor tolerability of it or side effects. Tapentadol
prolonged release, a centrally acting analgesic with 2 mechanisms of action, μ-opioid receptor agonist
and noradrenaline reuptake inhibitor, provides strong and reliable analgesia across a range of indications,
including nociceptive, neuropathic, and mixed types of chronic pain, and is associated with an improved
tolerability profile relative to classic opioid analgesics. The purpose of this article was to demonstrate clinical
efficacy of tapentadol PR in association to pregabalin for the treatment of neuropathic pain caused
by oxaliplatin chemotherapy
