Diagnosis and management of pain in Parkinson’s disease: a new approach

Abstract

Abstract: Pain is a frequent and disabling non-motor feature of Parkinson’s disease (PD). The recently proposed PD Pain Classification System (PD-PCS) allows to determine an association of pain with PD before allocating to the main pain mechanism (i.e. nociceptive, neuropathic, and nociplastic). In this article, previous studies on treatments for pain in PD are summarized according to the pain mechanisms. A mechanistic approach to treatment is discussed. We suggest that the first step should be optimizing dopaminergic therapy before other therapy is started. When these treatments remain unsuccessful, further causes of pain must be considered. The role of drugs, invasive treatments, and physiotherapeutic interventions are discussed with a focus on older PD patients considering polypharmacy, altered pharmacokinetics, and comorbidities.