[Pharmacological treatment strategy and mirror visual feedback treatment for neuropathic pain]

Neuropathic pain is a debilitating condition, and pharmacotherapy is the most established treatment strategy. A variety of pharmacotherapies is used for neuropathic pain management: however, pharmacotherapies with evidence for analgesic potency are less common. Several pharmacotherapeutic treatment guidelines for neuropathic pain treatment recommend the first- to third-line drugs on the basis of evidence-based medicine; however, neuropathic pain is often resistant to pharmacotherapies. We have treated pharmacotherapy-resistant neuropathic pain with neurorehabilitation techniques such as mirror visual feedback (MVF) treatment. Further to our clinical experience using MVF, we discuss the cerebral mechanism associated with neuropathic pain in this study.