Med News Today

Treatment for Spinal Cord Injury Pain

Newswise — Spinal cord injury patients with moderate to severe nerve pain experienced less pain and in some cases no pain while taking the drug pregabalin, according to a study published in the November 28, 2006, issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

“The findings are promising as spinal cord injury pain is a condition which generally responds poorly to currently available treatments,” said study author Philip J. Siddall, MBBS, PhD, with Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney, Australia.

The study, considered to be the largest randomized controlled trial of spinal cord injury patients with nerve pain, involved 137 adults in Australia over a 12-week period. Half of the group received pregabalin; the other half received a placebo.

Researchers found at the end of 12 weeks, fewer than 16 percent of patients taking pregabalin had severe pain compared with 43 percent in the placebo group. And over one-third of patients in the pregabalin group had no or mild pain.

The study also found pregabalin reduced sleep and anxiety problems compared to the placebo group.

posted by nattietodd @ 6:13 AM