Paliatívna medicína a liečba bolesti 2/2010

5 % lidocain pach – a new power against neuropathic pain

Neuropathic pain remain a difficult-to-treat problem. Systemic administration of local anesthetics is in comparison with topical therapy less effective and accompanied with more frequent adverse events. Locally acting Lidocaine 5 % in form of patch brings higher effectivity and safety into the therapy of neuropathic pain. In treatment of postherpetic neuralgy it is as effective as Gabapentin with lower incidency of adverse events. In use of combined therapy of Lidocaine 5 % patch and Gabapentin there is a great gapapentin-sparing effect observed. Its efficacy was confirmed also in other kinds of superficial neuropathic pain such as diabetic neuropathy or posttraumatic neuropathy. Even after 5-years period of using Lidocaine 5 % patch there were no adverse events observed.

Keywords: neuropathic pain, systemic and topical local anaesthetic, efficasy, safety.