Neurological Disorders Topic Homepage

The Knowledge Centre addresses the two types of pain: nociceptive and clinical. Nocicpetive pain aims to protect individuals from harm. Clinical pain results from damage or inflammation of a part of the body and consists of both spontaneous pain that may arise with no apparent peripheral stimulus, and from hypersensitivity to peripheral stimuli¹ due to peripheral and central sensitisations.

Neuropathic pain is often described as a shooting, stabbing or burning sensation. Estimates suggest that neuropathic pain may affect as much as 3% of the population.

Different types of neuropathic pain exist depending on their origin, details of which can be found in the Knowledge Centre: Painful Diabetic Neuropathy, Herpes Zoster and Post-Herpetic Neuralgia (PHN), HIV Associated-Neuropathy (HIV-AN), Cancer-related Neuropathic Pain, Post-surgical/Post-traumatic Neuropathic Pain.

In the clinic, the diagnosis of neuropathic pain relies on an accurate history and examination and some pain evaluation tools are used.

As Neuropathic pain doesn’t respond to conventional therapy with analgesics, the different treatment regimens are antidepressants, anticonvulsants, opioids, topical agents and combination treatment.

To help physicians in the pharmacological management of this condition, recent guidelines are available.

Enter the Neuropathic Pain Knowledge Centre

References:

Date of preparation: August 2012 PAIN/12/0003/EUd

In early dementia the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease include memory loss, disorientation and confusion. These symptoms are caused by the loss of neurons and worsen with continuous neurodegeneration. The pathology of dementia is not solely the result of a cholinergic deficit. It is known that, chronically and pathologically elevated glutamate concentrations play an important role.

In general two main groups of dementia can be distinguished, requiring different types of treatment:

• Cerebro-organic (primary) forms of dementia
• Non-cerebro-organic (secondary) forms of dementia

Depending on the stage of the disease, clinical symptoms of varying intensity dominate. With the progression of AD, treatment is aimed particularly at improving and stabilizing personal everyday functions, so as to keep patients independent for as long as possible. 

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Accurate diagnosis of NPC requires awareness of many clinical phenotypes, narrowing of differential diagnosis by ancillary testing and final confirmation by biochemical testing – the current mainstay of primary diagnosis in NPC.

The prevalence of NPC has undoubtedly been underestimated in the past due to a mixture of factors including confusing terminology, prior lack of specific biochemical or genetic tests, varied pathology, and the many variant clinical manifestations of the disease.

Current, non-specific treatments for NPC focus mainly on supportive care, aimed toward managing the symptoms of the disease. As such, these treatments have no effect on disease progression or long-term outcomes.

Specific therapies for the intended treatment of NPC are based on targeting known pathophysiological and/or biochemical defects involved in the pathogenesis of the disease. While earlier attempts proved largely ineffective, more recent efforts indicate possible hope for the future. 

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Every year approximately 13,000 new cases of soft tissue sarcomas are diagnosed in adults and children in Europe. The 5-year survival rate for patients with soft tissue sarcoma is around 90% if the cancer is detected in early phases and before it has spread. However, the 5-year survival rate is 10% to 15% for sarcomas with metastasis.

Management of STS depends on the stage of disease and histological subtype.² Surgery is the mainstay of treatment for patients with localised disease and is often curative. However, as recurrence is likely to occur when tumour cells remain after surgery, adjuvant radiotherapy is often also considered, especially for patients with intermediate or high-grade tumours. Radiotherapy is also often administered for patients in whom surgery is inappropriate or who decline surgery.²

There are a number of Associations and Organisations across Europe who strive to inform others of this disease as well as offer help and support to those affected or to those who know and want to help those suffering.

Enter the Soft Tissue Sarcoma Knowledge Centre

References

1. Cormier JN, Pollock RE. Soft tissue sarcomas. CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians 2004; 54(2):94–109.
2. Clark MA, Fisher C et al. (2005) “Soft-tissue sarcomas in adults.” N Engl JMed 353(7): 701–11.