Support for a neuropathic component of the pain of chronic pancreatitis is also found in clinical observations, where the pain is typically described as largely constant background pain with shooting, burning and lancinating episodes that may mimic that seen in peripheral neuropathies. Finally, evidence for central neuroplastic findings and strong descending inhibition, which may reflect the pain mechanisms in neuropathic pain have been found in recent studies (Dimcevski et al. 2006 and 2007). Thus inflammatory and "true" visceral pain components appear to play a role in pancreatic pain. Hence the potential to extrapolate from clinical trials demonstrating the activity of pregabalin in the treatment of neuropathic pain to the treatment of the possible neuropathic component of chronic pancreatitis is of great interest.