We are happy to inform you that the article “Diagnosis and Treatment of Chronic Neuropathic and Mixed Pain in Children and Adolescents: Results of a Survey Study amongst Practitioners” has been published in Children open access journal.
The article shows the results of a questionnaire administrated to investigate the international practice amongst practitioners for the diagnosis and treatment of chronic, neuropathic pain in children and adolescents.
The questionnaire consisted of 33 questions divided in 3 sections. 117 returned questionnaires were analysed, of which 41 (35%) were fully completed and 76 (65%) were partially completed. Most respondents based the diagnosis of neuropathic pain on physical examination (68 (58.1%)), patient history (67 (57.3%)), and underlying disease (59 (50.4%)) combined. The main results showed that Gabapentin, amitriptyline, and pregabalin were the first-choice treatments for moderate neuropathic pain; Tramadol, ibuprofen, amitriptyline, and paracetamol were the first-choice treatments for moderate mixed pain; Consensus on the diagnostic process of neuropathic pain in children and adolescents is lacking. Drug treatment varies widely for moderate, severe neuropathic, and mixed pain. Hence, diagnostic tools and therapy need to be harmonized and validated for use in children.
The GAPP project (GAbapentin in Paediatric Pain) was a FP7 funded project coordinated by Consorzio per Valutazioni Biologiche e Farmacologiche focused on the development of gabapentin for the treatment of chronic neuropathic and mixed pain in children, a condition where gabapentin, as demonstrated in adults, was expected to bring great benefit to children. TEDDY Network was involved in the Focus group on the GAPP Informative Packages for the development of the patients and families information material. TEDDY has also contributed to the creation of two animated videos dedicated to young children and teenagers to present the GAPP clinical trials in plain language.
