Treatment of localized neuropathic pain after disk herniation with 5% lidocaine medicated plaster Full Text
International Journal of General Medicine, 08/21/2012
Clinical Article
Likar R et al. – These results point to a safe and effective treatment approach with 5% lidocaine medicated plaster for localized neuropathic pain related to disk herniation. However, owing to the small sample size, further investigation in a larger–scale controlled trial is warranted.
Methods- Data of 23 patients treated for neuropathic pain with the lidocaine plaster for up to 24 months after a protrusion or prolapse of the cervical, thoracic, or lumbar vertebral disks were retrospectively analyzed.
- Changes in overall pain intensity, in intensity of different pain qualities and of allodynia and hyperalgesia were evaluated.
- Patients (14 female/nine male, mean age 53.5 ± 10.4 years) presented with radiating pain into the abdomen, back, neck, shoulder, or legs and feet with a mean pain intensity of 8.3 ± 1.5 on the 11–point Likert scale.
- Mean treatment duration was 7.6 months; 52% of the patients received lidocaine plaster as monotherapy.
- At the end of the observation, mean overall pain intensity had been reduced to 3.1 ± 1.8. All other parameters also improved.
- The treatment was well tolerated.
