Buprenorphine in the treatment of neuropathic pain

摘要: This chapter reviews the current preclinical and clinical data for the role of buprenorphine in the treatment of neuropathic pain syndromes. The published findings seem to support hypotheses regarding the rather unique analgesic mechanisms of buprenorphine as compared with pure μ-opioids like morphine and fentanyl. However, the exact mechanism of its analgesic efficacy still remains largely unknown despite recent advances in preclinical pharmacological studies. Such assessments have demonstrated the sustained antihyperalgesic effect of buprenorphine in diverse animal pain models. These findings are supported in a growing number of clinical studies of oral, intrathecal, intravenous and transdermal buprenorphine. This chapter focusses mainly on the clinical experience concerning the transdermal administration of buprenorphine in neuropathic pain, although preclinical aspects are also addressed in …