Dextromethorphan for the treatment of neuropathic pain: a double-blind randomised controlled crossover trial with integral n-of-1 design.

The aim was to compare the analgesic effectiveness and adverse effect incidence of oral dextromethorphan (DM) with placebo in patients with neuropathic pain. The first 10-day treatment period was a multiple-dose double-blind randomised controlled cross-over comparison of 13.5 mg of DM 3 times a day (t.

Iontophoresis of vincristine versus saline in post-herpetic neuralgia. A controlled trial.

Twenty patients with post-herpetic neuralgia (median duration 28.5 months) were randomly allocated to receive transdermal iontophoresis of either vincristine or saline. Although significant improvement in pain by word score and visual analogue scale (P = 0.

Clinical pharmacokinetics applied to patients with intractable pain: studies with pethidine.

The minimum effective analgetic blood concentration (MEAC) of pethidine following intravenous administration was identified in 3 patients with intractable pain. In two patients this value remained the same whether the pethidine was given intravenously, orally or rectally. In the third patient, whose eneral bioavailability was only 20%, the MEAC was not obtained.

Ventilatory response to intractable pain.

Fifty-two patients, admitted to a pain relief unit, had a cannula placed in the radial artery to measure the paO2, paCO2 and pH of arterial blood every 2 h, for periods ranging from 12 to 24 h. The patients were divided into 3 groups: 14 had low back pain, 21 patients had pain from cancer, and 17 had pain from other causes. Twenty were male and 32 were female with a mean age of 53 years (range 16-82 years).