[Current topics in prevention, diagnosis and treatment of neuropathic pain from different causes: preface and comments].

Neuropathic pain, as a chronic intractable pain, is well known to be difficult in prevention, diagnosis and treatment. Especially, neuropathic pain from different causes has each characteristics for prevention, diagnosis and treatment. These include post-herpetic pain, persistent chronic pain following traffic accident, pain after peripheral nerve injury in venipuncture, phantom limb pain originating from dysfunction of the primary motor cortex, pain from failed back surgery syndrome, and diabetic neuropathy, and are helpful for understanding prevention, diagnosis and treatment of neuropathic pain.