Pain Medicine 2010; 11: 1635–1653 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. REVIEW ARTICLE Maldynia: Pathophysiology and Management of Neuropathic and Maladaptive Pain—A Report of the AMA Council on Science and Public Healthpme_986 1635..1653 Barry D. Dickinson, PhD,* C. Alvin Head, MD,† viewed as maladaptive because it may occur in the Stuart Gitlow, MD,‡ and Albert J. Osbahr, III, MD§ absence of ongoing noxious stimuli and does not promote healing and repair. *Council on Science and Public Health, American Medical Association, Chicago, Illinois; Objective. To address recent findings on the patho- genesis of pain following neural injury and consider whether the development of maladaptive pain justi- †Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative fies its classification as a disease and to briefly Medicine, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, discuss the scope of pharmacologic and non- Georgia; pharmacologic approaches employed in patients with such pain. ‡Department of Psychiatry, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York; Methods. English language reports on studies using human subjects were selected from a PubMed search §Occupational Services, Catawba Valley Medical of the literature from 1995 to August 2010 and from the Cochrane Library. Further information was Center, Hickory, North Carolina, USA obtained from Internet sites of medical specialty and other societies devoted to pain management. Reprint requests to: Barry D. Dickinson, PhD, American Medical Association, 515 North State Street, Results. Neural damage to either the peripheral Chicago, IL 60654, USA. Tel: 312-464-4549; Fax: or central nervous system provokes multiple 312-464-5841; E-mail:
[email protected]. processes including peripheral and central sensiti- For the Council on Science and Public Health, zation, ectopic activity, neuronal cell death, disinhi- American Medical Association.