Medication Treatment for Visceral Pain

Treatments for visceral pain can be summarized as conventional drug therapy, non-conventional drug therapy, and non-drug therapy. Except for emergent cases, medication has always been the first-line treatment method for chronic and certain acute pains. In this chapter, detailed information about commonly used medication for visceral pain will be presented. Specifically, therapy targets visceral pain (opioid receptors and non-opioid receptors), and the current status of pharmacological treatment of visceral pain and commonly used drugs will be described. Conventional drug therapy includes opioids, non-opioids and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), GABA and tricyclic antidepressants, combination therapy, traditional Chinese medicine, and so on. Non-conventional drug therapy mainly comprises TRPV1 receptor antagonists, ketamine, humanized anti-NGF monoclonal antibodies, and α2 adrenergic receptor antagonists, etc.