[The clinical efficacy of SNRI milnacipran in the treatment of hot flushes with prostate cancer hormonally treated].

We investigated the clinical efficacy of milnacipran (Serotonin-Noradrenalin Reuptake Inhibitor: SNRI) in prostate cancer patients who suffer from hot flushes. Our study included 12 patients who had taken hormone therapy for at least 3 months prior to the trial entry. All patients had severe hot flushes at least 3 times daily. Among 12 patients, 7 subjects received milnacipran 25 mg orally once a day and 5 subjects received 50mg once a day. The questionnaire was used to measure the frequency and severity of hot flushes at baseline, and at 6 and 12 weeks. At 12 weeks, 9 patients were available for the evaluation. Four patients received 50 mg per day and 5 patients received 25 mg per day. The patients with > or =50% decrease in baseline hot flash score were observed in 3 out of 4 who received 50 mg and 2 out of 5 who received 25 mg per day. The frequency of hot flushes had significantly decreased at the 12 weeks period than the baseline in the milnacipran 50 mg per day treatment group (p < 0.05, paired t-test). Adverse events were observed in 3 patients: 2 cases of nausea and 1 case of constipation. However, all of them were mild to moderate. These results indicated that milnacipran 50 mg per day therapy is effective in the treatment of hot flushes, which is the side effect of hormone therapy for prostate cancer.