Bridging the gap in neuropathic pain treatment: The potential role of astaxanthin

Neuropathic pain is a challenging condition to treat. It is heterogeneous in nature and could be resistant to treatment with commonly prescribed analgesics. Current management strategies fail to achieve adequate or satisfactory pain relief in a high proportion of patients. The previous review mentioned that only less than 50% of patients can achieve good pain control with standard treatment. The available treatment only focuses in the symptom control, and does not interfere with the progressing damage of the nerve. Astaxanthin is a very potent anti-oxidant. In this review, we discuss about the potential use of astaxanthin for the add-on treatment of painful neuropathy.