Pregabalin for the Treatment of Pain After Posterior Spinal Fusions
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2012-02-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Acute pain management is challenging in patients after spinal fusions, particularly since
most have taken analgesics for prolonged periods before choosing the surgical alternative.
Many of these patients are either preoperatively or become after surgery narcotic dependent.
In addition, the narcotic based anesthetic required for the procedure, may induce a
postoperative hyper-analgesia which may be partially responsible for the acute postoperative
pain which is refractory to traditional doses of narcotics. Both the persistent nociceptive
and neuropathic pain which these patients experience and narcotic-induced hyper-analgesia is
mediated via non-conventional neural pathways. It is for these reasons, that in these
patients postoperative pain is refractory to narcotic treatment. Postoperative pain in this
situation is best managed using a multimodal approach. This technique allows the application
of a number of treatment modalities which maximize pain reduction and minimize treatment side
effects.
Pregabalin (Lyrica) has been shown to be effective in the treatment of neuropathic pain.
Pregabalin has a similar mechanism of action as gabapentin. Notably it has a rapid consistent
absorption, linear pharmacokinetics, and a low potential for pharmacokinetic drug
interactions. Hence, pregabalin should be a beneficial addition to the multi-modal pain
regimen after spinal surgery; particularly in narcotic tolerant patients who respond poorly
to conventional narcotic analgesics after surgery.
Phase:
N/A
Details
Lead Sponsor:
Hospital for Special Surgery, New York
Collaborator:
Pfizer
Treatments:
Molecular Mechanisms of Pharmacological Action Peripheral Nervous System Agents Pregabalin