Offering details on the pharmacology of itch, techniques of itch evaluation, and neurogenic itch, this reference presents new concepts in the neurophysiology and central mechanisms of itch, animal models of itch, and processing of histamine itch in the human cerebral cortex. The text clarifies itch in systemic and skin disease, exploring renal itch, uremic pruritus, lichen amyloidosis and more.

Basic research on the pharmacology of itch has exploded in the wake of two very influential papers that were published in Nature (2007) and Science (2009). Long overlooked as a milder form of pain, itching has rapidly gained a new appreciation in both research and clinical communities because of its complexity and its negative effects on the quality of life of the distressed patients. Like pain, not all itches are the same. Unlike pain, there are no standard drugs equivalent to aspirin and morphine. Epidemiological studies emphasize the high incidence and economic costs of itch (pruritus). It...

Basic research on the pharmacology of itch has exploded in the wake of two very influential papers that were published in Nature (2007) and Science (2009). Long overlooked as a milder form of pain, itching has rapidly gained a new appreciation in both research and clinical communities because of its complexity and its negative effects on the quality of life of the distressed patients. Like pain, not all itches are the same. Unlike pain, there are no standard drugs equivalent to aspirin and morphine. Epidemiological studies emphasize the high incidence and economic costs of itch (pruritus). It...