Abstract
We report on the response of medically refractory neuropathic trigeminal pain in three patients to intravenous administration of a combination of the kappa-partial agonist opioid nalbuphine and the opioid antagonist naloxone. Each of the three patients had developed a painful peripheral neuropathy as a complication of chemical or mechanical injury to the trigeminal nerve. Each patient had been tried on a number of analgesics, including mu-opioids, and had not gained relief or was not able to tolerate side effects of the medications. Pain intensity was measured for 3 h following drug administration using a 10 cm visual analog scale. All three patients reported marked decrease in pain following administration of the nalbuphine and naloxone combination. These findings suggest a novel approach to the management for neuropathic pain.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 144-146 |
Number of pages | 3 |
Journal | Neuroscience letters |
Volume | 343 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jun 5 2003 |
Keywords
- Anti-analgesia
- Dysesthesia
- Kappa opioids
- Local anesthetic toxicity
- Nerve injury
- Opioid antagonism
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Neuroscience