Study of analgesic effect of duloxetine hydrochloride in the treatment of locomotive neuropathic pain

Background: These days, many kinds of locomotive pain can be controlled by new analgesics, involving pregabalin and tramadol preparation, however, it has been hard to control neuropathic pain or painful numbness after spinal operations even if we use many analgesics. Duloxetine hydrochloride (DLX) is the first or second choice in the guideline for the treatment of neuropathic pain in many countries. We examined the effect of DLX in the treatment of "locomotive" neuropathic pain. Methods : This study was conducted from April 2011 to August 2015 retro spectively. 56 outpatients (average age = 70.7 years old). The primary study was checked the concomitant drugs, the effect of DLX, and adverse drug reactions. The second study was compared age, underlying disease, disease duration, the dose and administration of DLX, and affinity to the concomitant drug (Pregabalin and Tramadol) between good responder group and poor responder group. Results : The concomitant drugs were Pregabalin (29.1%), the Tramadol preparation (20.3%), NSAIDs (12.7%), and so on. The outcome of DLX was good course was 48% and worse course was 31%. The adverse reactions were occurred in 19.6% of all patients. Most of post operative pain of cervical and lumbar spine were included in good course group. However, age, disease duration, the concomitant drugs, and the dose of DLX were not differentiated significantly between two groups. Conclusions : DLX was an important treatment option for post operative pain of cervical and lumbar spine.