Efficacy and Usage of Gabapentin in the Treatment of Neuropathic Pain

Purpose: Gabapentin is an anticpilcptic agent used for the treatment of ncuropathic pain. This study was aimed to evaluate the usage and efficacy of gabapentin in neuropathic pain. Material and Methods: A hundred and six patients who prescribed gabapentin for ncuropathic pain were assessed. Demographic data, initial diagnosis, symptom duration, previous medications, medications used with gabapentin, duration and dosage of gabapentin were recorded retrospectively. Patients were asked to evaluate efficacy of treatment by Likert scale (0-4) via phone visits. Results: Mean age of patients was 56.8 12.6 and 57.5% of them were female. Mean duration of symptoms and duration of gabapentin usage were 5.35 5.0 years and 11.13 9.9 months respectively. Mean gabapentin dosage was 1606.6 505.3 mg. Global assessment of treatment efficacy was 1.9 1.3. 51% of our patients rated the efficacy of treatment as mild or moderate, whereas 32% of them rated as good or very good. No statistically significant difference was detected between patients with central and peripheral ncuropathic pain based on global assessment of treatment efficacy. Conclusion: Gabapentin was evaluated as moderately effective for the treatment of ncuropathic pain. Majority of patients had radiculopathy and spinal cord compression due to spinal stenosis. Prospective, randomized controlled trials are needed to investigate efficacy of gabapentin in these particular ncuropathic pain conditions.