Future approaches to tackling neuropathic pain in dogs.

Neuropathic pain is a form of pain caused by a lesion or disease of the somatosensory nervous system. It is usually chronic and difficult to treat, affecting quality of life. Mechanisms of neuropathic pain are not yet fully understood. New ways to assess pain in chronically affected patients are described in the medical literature, but the use of these tools for diagnosis and assessment of neuropathic pain is not as frequent in veterinary analgesia compared to humans. Treatment options consist of multimodal analgesia and adjuvant therapy. Here current knowledge of pathophysiology, diagnosis and treatment of neuropathic pain in dogs is briefly reviewed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]