Readers have access to legions of books dealing with the molecular,
genetic, neurochemical, neurophysiological, neuroanatomical,
neuroradiological and psychological aspects of pain as well as with the
clinical approaches to pain from various medical disciplines. Why then
is it necessary to publish a book on the pathophysiologyofpain
perception? Pain can result either from noxious events due to lesions,
injuries, diseases, etc., or from disturbances in the system
transducing, transforming, and processing the potential pain signal or
from an interaction of both. Under certain pathological conditions, the
pain-processing system, which includes both physiological and
psychological components, can produce the experience of pain in the
absence of any peripheral noxious event. This book primarily ex- amines
these pathological alterations in the pain-signalling system, and the
authors provide information on the functioning of the pain-processing
system under normal and pathological conditions. The understanding of
pain perception is essential for optimal diagnosis and treatment of
acute and chronic pain. Considerable evidence now indicates that
alterations in pain per- ception are characteristic of many clinical
pain states. Whether disturbed pain perception is a truly etiological or
only a maintaining factor-c-or even a mere epiphenomenon of chronic
functional pain-is reviewed in detail by L. Arendt-Nielsen, C. R.
Covelli, R. B. Fillingim, ]. M. Gillespie, T. Graven-Nielsen, E. Kosek,
S. Lautenbacher, M. Peters, A. Pielsticker, DO. Price, G. B. Rollman, P.
Svensson and G. N. Verne for headache, back pain, fibromyalgia,
myofascial pain, temporomandibular pain disorder, irritable bowel
syndrome and menstrual cycle-related pain disorders.
