Excerpt

This short clinical guideline aims to improve the care of adults with neuropathic pain by making evidence-based recommendations on the pharmacological management of neuropathic pain outside of specialist pain management services. A further aim is to ensure that people who require specialist assessment and interventions are referred appropriately and in a timely fashion to a specialist pain management service and/or other condition-specific services.

Contents

• Introduction
• Patient-centred care
• Strength of recommendations
• Update information
• 1. Recommendations
  • 1.1. List of all recommendations
• 2. Development of the guideline
  • 2.1. Methodology
• 3. Evidence review and recommendations
  • Review questions
  • 3.1. All neuropathic pain
  • 3.2. Peripheral neuropathic pain
  • 3.3. Central neuropathic pain
  • 3.4. Trigeminal neuralgia
  • 3.5. Key principles of care
• 4. References
• 5. Glossary and abbreviations
  • Glossary
  • Abbreviations
• 6. Other information
  • 6.1. Scope
  • 6.2. Implementation
  • 6.3. Other versions of this guideline
  • 6.4. Related NICE guidance
• Appendix A. Contributors and declarations of interests
• Appendix B. List of all research recommendations
• Appendix C. Guideline scope
• Appendix D. How this guideline was developed
• Appendix E. Evidence tables
• Appendix F. Full health economic report
• Appendix G. GRADE profiles and results for ‘all neuropathic pain’
• Appendix H. GRADE profiles and results for ‘peripheral neuropathic pain’
• Appendix I. GRADE profiles and results for ‘central neuropathic pain’
• Appendix J. GRADE profiles and results for individual adverse effects for ‘all neuropathic pain’
• Appendix K. Specimen WinBUGS code
• Appendix L. Validation of efficacy dataset used in health economic model

This guideline updates and replaces NICE clinical guideline 96

NICE clinical guidelines are recommendations about the treatment and care of people with specific diseases and conditions in the NHS in England and Wales.

This guidance represents the view of NICE, which was arrived at after careful consideration of the evidence available. Healthcare professionals are expected to take it fully into account when exercising their clinical judgement. However, the guidance does not override the individual responsibility of healthcare professionals to make decisions appropriate to the circumstances of the individual patient, in consultation with the patient and/or guardian or carer, and informed by the summary of product characteristics of any drugs.

Implementation of this guidance is the responsibility of local commissioners and/or providers. Commissioners and providers are reminded that it is their responsibility to implement the guidance, in their local context, in light of their duties to have due regard to the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations. Nothing in this guidance should be interpreted in a way that would be inconsistent with compliance with those duties.