Techniques and factors for reducing chronic neuropathic pain: A review

Nerve trauma commonly results in chronic neuropathic pain. This is by triggering the release of pro-inflammatory mediators from local and invading cells that induce inflammation and nociceptive neuron hyperexcitability. Even without apparent inflammation, injury sites are associated with increased i...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Damien P. Kuffler
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications 2026-04-01
Series:Neural Regeneration Research
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.lww.com/10.4103/NRR.NRR-D-22-00015
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849421323912085504
author Damien P. Kuffler
author_facet Damien P. Kuffler
author_sort Damien P. Kuffler
collection DOAJ
description Nerve trauma commonly results in chronic neuropathic pain. This is by triggering the release of pro-inflammatory mediators from local and invading cells that induce inflammation and nociceptive neuron hyperexcitability. Even without apparent inflammation, injury sites are associated with increased inflammatory markers. This review focuses on how it might be possible to reduce neuropathic pain by reducing inflammation. Physiologically, pain is resolved by a combination of the out-migration of pro-inflammatory cells from the injury site, the down-regulation of the genes underlying the inflammation, up-regulating genes for anti-inflammatory mediators, and reducing nociceptive neuron hyperexcitability. While various techniques reduce chronic neuropathic pain, the best are effective on < 50% of patients, no technique reliably or permanently eliminates neuropathic pain. This is because most techniques are predominantly aimed at reducing pain, not inflammation. In addition, while single factors reduce pain, increasing evidence indicates significant and longer-lasting pain relief requires multiple factors acting simultaneously. Therefore, it is not surprising that extensive data indicate that the application of platelet-rich plasma provides more significant and longer-lasting pain suppression than other techniques, although its analgesia is neither complete nor permanent. However, several case reports indicate that platelet-rich plasma can induce permanent neuropathic pain elimination when the platelet concentration is significantly increased and is applied to longer nerve lengths. This review examines the primary triggers of the development and maintenance of neuropathic pain and techniques that reduce chronic neuropathic pain. The application of platelet-rich plasma holds great promise for providing complete and permanent chronic neuropathic pain elimination.
format Article
id doaj-art-6f49ab1eb6dd4beeb274406ca51b46d2
institution Kabale University
issn 1673-5374
1876-7958
language English
publishDate 2026-04-01
publisher Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications
record_format Article
series Neural Regeneration Research
spelling doaj-art-6f49ab1eb6dd4beeb274406ca51b46d22025-08-20T03:31:30ZengWolters Kluwer Medknow PublicationsNeural Regeneration Research1673-53741876-79582026-04-012141353135810.4103/NRR.NRR-D-22-00015Techniques and factors for reducing chronic neuropathic pain: A reviewDamien P. KufflerNerve trauma commonly results in chronic neuropathic pain. This is by triggering the release of pro-inflammatory mediators from local and invading cells that induce inflammation and nociceptive neuron hyperexcitability. Even without apparent inflammation, injury sites are associated with increased inflammatory markers. This review focuses on how it might be possible to reduce neuropathic pain by reducing inflammation. Physiologically, pain is resolved by a combination of the out-migration of pro-inflammatory cells from the injury site, the down-regulation of the genes underlying the inflammation, up-regulating genes for anti-inflammatory mediators, and reducing nociceptive neuron hyperexcitability. While various techniques reduce chronic neuropathic pain, the best are effective on < 50% of patients, no technique reliably or permanently eliminates neuropathic pain. This is because most techniques are predominantly aimed at reducing pain, not inflammation. In addition, while single factors reduce pain, increasing evidence indicates significant and longer-lasting pain relief requires multiple factors acting simultaneously. Therefore, it is not surprising that extensive data indicate that the application of platelet-rich plasma provides more significant and longer-lasting pain suppression than other techniques, although its analgesia is neither complete nor permanent. However, several case reports indicate that platelet-rich plasma can induce permanent neuropathic pain elimination when the platelet concentration is significantly increased and is applied to longer nerve lengths. This review examines the primary triggers of the development and maintenance of neuropathic pain and techniques that reduce chronic neuropathic pain. The application of platelet-rich plasma holds great promise for providing complete and permanent chronic neuropathic pain elimination.https://journals.lww.com/10.4103/NRR.NRR-D-22-00015anti-inflammatory factorsaxon regenerationinflammatory painnerve regenerationnerve repairpain eliminationpain reductionplatelet-rich plasmapro-inflammatory factorsrestoration of function
spellingShingle Damien P. Kuffler
Techniques and factors for reducing chronic neuropathic pain: A review
Neural Regeneration Research
anti-inflammatory factors
axon regeneration
inflammatory pain
nerve regeneration
nerve repair
pain elimination
pain reduction
platelet-rich plasma
pro-inflammatory factors
restoration of function
title Techniques and factors for reducing chronic neuropathic pain: A review
title_full Techniques and factors for reducing chronic neuropathic pain: A review
title_fullStr Techniques and factors for reducing chronic neuropathic pain: A review
title_full_unstemmed Techniques and factors for reducing chronic neuropathic pain: A review
title_short Techniques and factors for reducing chronic neuropathic pain: A review
title_sort techniques and factors for reducing chronic neuropathic pain a review
topic anti-inflammatory factors
axon regeneration
inflammatory pain
nerve regeneration
nerve repair
pain elimination
pain reduction
platelet-rich plasma
pro-inflammatory factors
restoration of function
url https://journals.lww.com/10.4103/NRR.NRR-D-22-00015
work_keys_str_mv AT damienpkuffler techniquesandfactorsforreducingchronicneuropathicpainareview