Efficacy of gabapentin in treating chronic phantom limb and residual limb pain

摘要

Twentyfour adults with phantom limb pain (PLP) and/or residual limb pain (RLP) participated in a doubleblind crossover trial. Participants were randomly assigned to receive gabapentin or placebo and later crossed over to the other treatment, with a 5week washout interval in which they did not receive medication. Gabapentin was titrated from 300 mg to the maximum dose of 3,600 mg. Measures of pain intensity, pain interference, depression, life satisfaction, and functioning were collected throughout the study. Analyses revealed no significant group differences in pre to posttreatment change scores on any of the outcome measures. More than half of the participants reported a meaningful decrease in pain during the gabapentin phase compared with about onefifth who reported a meaningful decrease in pain during the placebo phase. In this trial, gabapentin did not substantially affect pain. More research on the efficacy of gabapentin to treat chronic PLP and RLP is needed.