RESEARCH ARTICLE
Pregabalin in Treatment-Refractory Fibromyalgia
Brett R Stacey *, 1 , Birol Emir 2, Danielle Petersel 2, Kevin Murphy 2
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2010Volume: 4
First Page: 35
Last Page: 38
Publisher ID: TORJ-4-35
DOI: 10.2174/1874312901004010035
Article History:
Received Date: 6/5/2010Revision Received Date: 6/6/2010
Acceptance Date: 10/6/2010
Electronic publication date: 21/10/2010
Collection year: 2010
open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.
Abstract
Context: Fibromyalgia is a chronic musculoskeletal pain disorder. The pain can be intractable and may not respond to commonly-used treatments, such as tricyclic antidepressants and opioids.
Objectives: To evaluate pregabalin response in the subset of patients with fibromyalgia whose pain had been judged refractory to other treatments.
Methods: Patients had previously participated in a controlled trial of pregabalin and had moderate to severe pain despite treatment with gabapentin, a tricyclic antidepressant, and a third medication (e.g., other anticonvulsants, opioid, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, tramadol). Flexible-dose pregabalin 150-600 mg/day was added for 3-month treatment cycles, each followed by 3- to 28-day pregabalin “drug holiday” that lasted until a relapse occurred. Pain intensity was measured using the visual analogue scale of the Short-Form McGill Pain Questionnaire completed at baseline, the end of each 3-month treatment period and at the relapse visit. Analysis was at 15 months (after 5 cycles).
Results: In total, 25 patients were included and 19 completed the 15-month analysis period. At baseline, 88% were receiving ≥1 pain medication. Pregabalin 150-600 mg/day was associated with statistically significant, clinically meaningful pain reduction during each treatment cycle. Pain quickly returned to baseline levels during the “drug holidays” in a median time of 2-4 days. Somnolence (n=5) and dizziness (n=4) were the most common adverse events.
Conclusions: These results suggest that pregabalin may be beneficial in patients with fibromyalgia who have had an unsatisfactory response to treatment with other medications.
