Drug Relieves Pain From Spinal Cord Injuries

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- A drug used to treat two of the most common types of nerve pain -- diabetic nerve pain and pain after shingles -- may also help treat pain from spinal cord injuries.

New research from Sydney, Australia, shows spinal cord injury patients with moderate to severe nerve pain had less or no pain when they took the drug pregabalin (Lyrica). This is promising news because patients don't get much relief from treatments currently available.

Researchers studied 137 adults with spinal cord injuries in Australia. Half of the patients took pregabalin; the other half got a placebo.

After 12 weeks, fewer than 16 percent of patients on pregabalin had severe pain compared with 43 percent of those taking a placebo. More than one-third of the pregabalin group had no or mild pain.

"Pregabalin was significantly more effective in relieving pain, improving sleep, anxiety, and overall well-being in patients with spinal cord injury compared to placebo," reports study author Philip J. Siddall, M.B.B.S., Ph.D., from Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney.

Dr. Siddall reports the drug works quickly. After the first week of the study, patients taking pregabalin already had significant pain relief. The most common side effects were dizziness and drowsiness.

There are about 11,000 new spinal cord injuries every year in the United States. About 40 percent of spinal cord injury patients have nerve pain.

The manufacturer of pregabalin, Pfizer Inc., supported this study.

This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, who offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, go to: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.

SOURCE: Neurology, 2006;67:1792