Table 4.

Potential predictors for treatment success with 5% lidocaine medicated plaster

Predictive value	Chronic low back pain with neuropathic components	Chronic neuropathic pain after surgical and nonsurgical trauma
Positive	Localized pain	Localized pain
	Hyperalgesia	Hyperalgesia
	Allodynia	Allodynia
	Differentiation between back pain and nonback pain	Superficial pain
		Pain quality
		Positive sensory symptoms (eg, dysesthesia)
Negative	Long duration of paina	Long duration of paina
	Predominant radicular pain	Spontaneous pain without evoked pain
	Widespread pain	Deep pain
		Widespread pain
		Negative sensory symptoms (eg, anesthesia, hypoesthesia)
Uncertain	Pain quality
No value	Diagnosis of pain	Diagnosis of pain
	Site of pain	Site of pain
		Paresthesia

Notes: Pain quality = burning, shooting, stabbing, or other descriptors of pain.

^aPain of long duration is difficult to treat with any pain medication.