Lidocaine 5 % patches as an effective short-term co-analgesic in cancer pain. Preliminary results.

Purpose: To analyze the short-term efficacy and patients' subjective perception of the use of lidocaine 5 % patches for painful scars (post-thoracotomy and post-mastectomy) and pain caused by chest wall tumors.

Methods: This is a prospective, descriptive, non-controlled, non-randomized, open-label study of patients seen in the palliative care outpatient clinic. Demographic data, variables relating to the severity of the pain, and concomitant therapy both at the start and end of treatment, the need for interventional anesthetic techniques (IAT), patients' subjective perception and treatment-related side effects were all recorded.

Results: Twenty patients were included with a mean follow-up of 29.2 days. The treatment led to a statistically significant clinical improvement in pain severity. There was no clinically significant opioid dose escalation during the treatment period. Only three patients required IAT to relieve the pain. Sixty five percent of patients were very satisfied with the therapy. No systemic or local adverse events were reported.

Conclusions: The addition of lidocaine 5 % patches is effective in the short term for the treatment of neuropathic cancer pain accompanied by allodynia, whether deriving from a painful scar or chest wall tumor. These findings need to be confirmed by randomized controlled trials with larger samples.