The recommendations for drug choice for the treatment of neuropathic pain are based on the guidance issued by National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) on drug treatment of neuropathic pain in adults in non-specialist settings [NICE, 2010].

• Having reviewed the evidence for a number of neuropathic conditions (including cancer pain and neuropathic cancer pain), the NICE guidance development group (GDG) treated the term 'neuropathic pain' as a blanket condition regardless of the underlying cause; the GDG considered this to be helpful and practical for non-specialist healthcare professionals and patients.
• However, condition-specific recommendations were made if robust evidence on clinical efficacy and cost-effectiveness existed (as in the case of painful diabetic neuropathy), or where the evidence was clearly uncertain and insufficient to alter current clinical practice (as in the case of trigeminal neuralgia).
• The GDG acknowledged that evidence for treating a particular neuropathic pain condition with a particular aetiology is often extrapolated to other neuropathic pain conditions with other aetiologies, although there is little evidence to support the validity of this.
• For the treatment of neuropathic pain in people with cancer, the GDG identified only one randomized controlled trial (RCT) comparing amitriptyline with placebo, one RCT comparing gabapentin with placebo, and no RCTs evaluating pregabalin.
• For further information, see the CKS topic on Neuropathic pain - drug treatment.