Itch and pruritus: what are they, and how should itches be classified?

@article{Bernhard2005ItchAP,
  title={Itch and pruritus: what are they, and how should itches be classified?},
  author={Jeffrey D. Bernhard},
  journal={Dermatologic Therapy},
  year={2005},
  volume={18}
}
  • J. Bernhard
  • Published 1 July 2005
  • Philosophy
  • Dermatologic Therapy
ABSTRACT:  Itch and pruritus are two terms for the same thing. In this essay I will argue that casting about for a distinction between them creates only confusion. Once that matter is settled, it is still necessary to come up with a clinical classification for itches of different types. No system yet proposed, including the one that will be suggested here, is perfect. 
View on Wiley
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
53 Citations
Background Citations
12

53 Citations

Pruritus: Progress toward Pathogenesis and Treatment

TLDR
This review summarizes the updated pathogenesis and therapeutic strategies for pruritus and suggests that, apart from histamine, many mediators and signaling pathways are involved in the pathogenesis ofPruritus.

Pruritus in palliative care: Getting up to scratch.

TLDR
A 75-year-old woman who has end-stage renal disease and is receiving hemodialysis 3 times a week has had mild pruritus for a long time, but recently it has been worse.

Assessing Treatment of Pruritic Scalp

TLDR
The divergent responses in this study underlines that there are probably different factors and trigger points which elicit the condition, and more studies on this entity are warranted.

[Chronic pruritus: principals of diagnostics and therapy].

  • S. Ständer
  • Medicine
    Der Hautarzt; Zeitschrift fur Dermatologie, Venerologie, und verwandte Gebiete
  • 2007
TLDR
Application of the redefined clinical classification, newly defined clinical algorithms and inquiry of clinical characteristics of pruritus is helpful in finding the underlying disease.

[Clinical classification of chronic pruritus. Interdisciplinary consensus proposal for a diagnostic algorithm].

TLDR
The proposed clinical classification of pruritus is oriented at the clinical appearance of the patients and differentiates between disorders with or without primary or secondary skin lesions.

Evaluation of chronic pruritus in older patients

TLDR
A rational work-up adapted to the special premises and needs of geriatric patients is presented, which may facilitate the choice of suitable therapeutic regimens.

Systemic Immunosuppressants in the Treatment of Pruritus

TLDR
Itch is propagated by complex mechanisms located both peripherally and within the central nervous system, and traditional systemic treatments have limited efficacy and new options are emerging slowly.

Pruritus: an overview of current concepts.

TLDR
The role of itch fibres and their response to various mediators of pruritus including histamine, vasoactive intestinal peptide, calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), and substance P (SP), and opioids are reviewed.

Delusional Infestation and Chronic Pruritus: A Review.

  • L. Kimsey
  • Medicine, Psychology
    Acta dermato-venereologica
  • 2016
TLDR
The principle difference between diagnoses of chronic pruritus and delusional infestation appears to lie in the patient's interpretation of the cause of the symptoms, rather than underlying physiological differences.

Neurologic Itch Management.

  • E. Savk
  • Medicine
    Current problems in dermatology
  • 2016
TLDR
Treatments for neuropathic itch are transcranial magnetic stimulation of the brain, new topical cannabinoid receptor agonists, various modes of acupuncture, a holistic approach with healing touch, and cell transplantation to the spinal cord.
...

References

SHOWING 1-9 OF 9 REFERENCES

Itch: Mechanisms and Management of Pruritus

TLDR
This book is a practical guide to the variety of underlying causes and a comprehensive review of relevant treatments of itching, with systematic coverage of virtually all conditions, common and rare, which can evoke itching.

Willan's itch and other causes of pruritus in the elderly

TLDR
The diagnosis of Willan's itch should be reserved for generalized pruritus in the absence of xerosis or other recognizable cause, and it is suggested that gabapentin, cutaneous field stimulation, serotonin antagonists, and ultraviolet B phototherapy may attenuate itch in some of these patients.

How should we define itching?

  • J. Savin
  • Philosophy
    Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology
  • 1998

Johnson's Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland, and Boswell's Journal of a tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson, LL.D.

Samuel Johnson and James Boswell spent the autumn of 1773 touring the Highlands and Western Islands of Scotland. Detailed notes of their individual impressions are now published in this volume.…

Quiddities: an intermittently philosophical dictionary

Toward clarity and grace

  • 1990

On the dysspelling of pruritus

  • Fitz J Cl Dermatol 1994:
  • 1994

Itchy papular eruptions

  • Bernhard JD, ed. Itch: mechanisms and management of pruritus. New York: McGraw-Hill,
  • 1994

An intermittently philosophical dictionary

  • 1987