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Inmaculada Failde,1,2 María Dueñas,2,3 Maria Victoria Ribera,4 Rafael Gálvez,5 Juan A Mico,2,6,7 Alejandro Salazar,2,3 Helena de Sola,1,2 Concepción Pérez8 1Department of Biomedicine, Biotechnology and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Cádiz, Cádiz, Spain; 2Institute of Research and Innovation in Biomedical Sciences of the Province of Cadiz, Spain; 3Department of Statistics and Operational Research, Faculty of Sciences, University of Cádiz, Cádiz, Spain; 4Pain Clinic, Hospital Vall d’Hebrón, Barcelona, Spain; 5Pain Clinic, Hospital Virgen de las Nieves, Granada, Spain; 6Department of Neuroscience, Pharmacology and Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Cádiz, Cádiz, Spain; 7CIBER of Mental Health, CIBERSAM, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain; 8Pain Unit, Hospital de la Princesa, Madrid, Spain Background: The objective of the study was to estimate the prevalence of pure central neuropathic pain (CNP) and peripheral neuropathic pain (PNP) among patients attending pain clinics in Spain. The study also aimed to analyze factors associated with pain intensity and quality of life (QoL). Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed including 53 patients with pure CNP and 281 with pure PNP attending in 104 pain clinics in Spain. The revised grading system proposed in 2008 to determine a definite, probable or possible diagnosis of NP was used. Pain features, psychological variables and QoL were assessed. Descriptive, bivariate and multivariate analyses were performed. Results: The prevalence of pure CNP and PNP amongst neuropathic pain patients was 2.4% (95% CI: 1.7;3.1) and 12.9% (95% CI: 1.5;14.3), respectively. Comorbid anxiety, depression or sleep disorders were high in both groups, but higher in CNP patients (51.1%, 71.4%, respectively). Pain intensity in PNP patients was associated with the presence of depression and sleep disturbances. However, in CNP patients, it was related with pain in the lower limbs. The impairment of QoL was greater in CNP patients than in PNP patients; pain location, presence of depression and sleep disturbance were the factors that most negatively affected QoL. Among PNP patients, women and those with higher pain intensity had worse QoL. Conclusion: Pain intensity and QoL are affected by different factors in patients suffering from CNP or PNP. Identifying these factors could serve to guide therapeutic strategies and improve the QoL of patients. Keywords: central neuropathic pain, peripheral neuropathic pain, pain intensity, quality of life

Joseph Pergolizzi1, Eli Alon2, Ralf Baron3, Cesare Bonezzi4, Jan Dobrogowski5, Rafael Gálvez6, Troels Jensen7, Hans-Georg Kress8, Marco AE Marcus9, Bart Morlion10, Serge Perrot11, Rolf-Detlef Treede121Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA; 2Universitätsspital Zurich, Switzerland; 3Universitätsklinikum Schleswig-Holstein, Kiel, Germany; 4Fondazione Salvatore Maugeri, Pavia, Italy; 5Zaklad Badania i Leczenia Bólu, Kraków, Poland; 6Hospital Universitario Virgen de las Nieves, Granada, Spain; 7Aarhus University, Denmark; 8Medical University of Vienna, Austria; 9Maastricht University Medical Center and University of Muenster, Maastricht, The Netherlands; 10University Hospitals Leuven, Belgium; 11Hôpital Dieu, Paris, France; 12Ruprecht-Karls-University, Heidelberg, GermanyAbstract: Chronic pain affects approximately 1 in 5 people in Europe, and around half of sufferers receive inadequate pain management. The most common location is the lower back. Pharmacological treatment of this condition is challenging because of the range of causative mechanisms and the difficulty of balancing analgesic efficacy and tolerability. An international panel of clinical pain specialists met in September, 2009, to discuss the treatment of chronic low back pain, and to review preclinical and clinical data relating to the new analgesic, tapentadol. A lack of consensus exists on the best treatment for low back pain. The range of regularly prescribed pharmacological agents extends from nonopioids (paracetamol, NSAIDs, and COX-2 inhibitors) to opioids, antidepressants and anticonvulsants. Pain relief may be compromised, however, by an undetected neuropathic component or intolerable side effects. Treatment is potentially life-long and effective analgesics are urgently needed, with demonstrable long-term safety. Combining separate agents with different mechanisms of action could overcome the limitations of present pharmacological therapy, but clinical evidence for this approach is currently lacking. Tapentadol combines µ-opioid agonism with noradrenaline reuptake inhibition in a single molecule. There is strong evidence of synergistic antinociception between these two mechanisms of action. In preclinical and clinical testing, tapentadol has shown efficacy against both nociceptive and neuropathic pain. Preclinical data indicate that tapentadol’s µ-opioid agonism makes a greater contribution to analgesia in acute pain, while noradrenaline reuptake inhibition makes a greater contribution in chronic neuropathic pain models. Tapentadol also produces fewer adverse events than oxycodone at equianalgesic doses, and thus may have a ‘µ-sparing effect’. Current evidence indicates that tapentadol’s efficacy/tolerability ratio may be better than those of classical opioids. However, further research is needed to establish its role in pain management.Keywords: chronic low back pain, neurophysiological changes, neuropathic component, multimechanistic approach, efficacy/side effect ratio, tapentadol

Cesar Margarit,1 Joaquim Juliá,2 Rafael López,3 Antonio Anton,4 Yolanda Escobar,5 Ana Casas,6 Juan Jesús Cruz,7 Rafael Galvez,8 Ana Mañas,9 Francisco Zaragozá101Pain Unit, Alicante University General Hospital, Alicante, Spain; 2Department of Integral Support-Palliative Care, Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO), Germans Trias i Pujol University Hospital, Badalona, Spain; 3Department of Clinical Oncology, University Hospital Complex, Santiago de Compostela, Spain; 4Department of Clinical Oncology, Miguel Servet Hospital, Zaragoza, Spain; 5Department of Clinical Oncology, Gregorio Marañón Hospital, Madrid, Spain; 6Department of Oncology, Virgen Macarena Hospital, Seville, Spain; 7Department of Clinical Oncology, Salamanca Hospital, Salamanca, Spain; 8Pain and Palliative Care Unit, Virgen de las Nieves Hospital, Granada, Spain; 9Department of Oncology–Radiotherapy, La Paz Hospital, Madrid, Spain; 10Department of Pharmacology, University of Alcalá de Henares, SpainAbstract: Breakthrough cancer pain is defined as transient pain exacerbation in patients with stable and controlled basal pain. Although variable, the prevalence of breakthrough cancer pain is high (33%–95%). According to the American Pain Foundation, breakthrough pain is observed in 50%–90% of all hospitalized cancer patients, in 89% of all patients admitted to homes for the elderly and terminal-patient care centers, and in 35% of all ambulatory care cancer patients. The management of breakthrough cancer pain should involve an interdisciplinary and multimodal approach. The introduction of new fentanyl formulations has represented a great advance and has notably improved treatment. Among these, the pectin-based intranasal formulation adjusts very well to the profile of breakthrough pain attacks, is effective, has a good toxicity profile, and allows for convenient dosing – affording rapid and effective analgesia with the added advantage of being easily administered by caregivers when patients are unable to collaborate.Keywords: prevalence, management, diagnosis, opioids