part of 71 ISSN 1758-1869 10.2217/PMT.11.77 © 2012 Gérard Mick, Ralf Baron, Nanna Brix Finnerup, Guy Hans, Kai-Uwe Kern, Birgit Brett & Robert H Dworkin Pain Manage. (2012) 2(1), 71–77 SUMMARY According to several guidelines, topical agents should be considered for the pharmacological management of localized neuropathic pain. As a defnition for the term ‘localized neuropathic pain’ that might facilitate easier identifcation of patients who are putatively responsive to topical treatments could not be found in the literature, six pain specialists met in 2010 to address this challenging issue. The following nucleus of a defnition that is based on the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) defnition of neuropathic pain, is the most detailed that can currently be proposed: ‘Localized neuropathic pain is a type of neuropathic pain that is characterized by consistent and circumscribed 1 Division of Neurological Pain Research & Therapy, Department of Neurology, University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein, Kiel, Germany 2 Danish Pain Research Centre, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark 3 Multidisciplinary Pain Center, Antwerp University Hospital, Edegem, Belgium 4 Center for Pain Medicine & Palliative Care, Wiesbaden, Germany 5 Brett Medical Writing, Pulheim, Germany 6 Departments of Anesthesiology & Neurology, University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry, Rochester, NY, USA *Author for correspondence: Center for Pain Evaluation & Treatment, University Neurological Hospital, BP Lyon Montchat, 69384 Lyon Cedex 3, France; Tel.: +33 6 80 13 40 09; Fax: +33 4 76 67 15 43; gerard.mick@ch-voiron.fr  According to guidelines, topical treatment should be considered in the management of localized neuropathic pain.  The term ‘localized neuropathic pain’ has so far not been defned in the literature.  There is inconsistent and limited shared understanding of this term or related terms (local or focal) among general practitioners and pain specialists.  A consensus discussion to try and provide a defnition was based on 13 reference articles that were most relevant to the topic.  The proposed nucleus of the defnition was based on the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) defnition of neuropathic pain.  The proposed defnition is as follows: ‘Localized neuropathic pain is a type of neuropathic pain that is characterized by consistent and circumscribed area(s) of maximum pain’.  This core defnition should be reviewed within the scientifc community and further developed by the IASP taxonomy committee in order to obtain a tool that might help to identify patients who could beneft from topical treatment. Practice Points What is localized neuropathic pain? A frst proposal to characterize and defne a widely used term REVIEW Gérard Mick*, Ralf Baron 1 , Nanna Brix Finnerup 2 , Guy Hans 3 , Kai-Uwe Kern 4 , Birgit Brett 5 & Robert H Dworkin 6 For reprint orders, please contact: reprints@futuremedicine.com