Clinical Investigation And Analysis Of Patients With Neuropathic Pain

Objective The objective of this study was to deepen the understanding ofneuropathic pain and to provide further help to clinical treatment by analyzingthe clinical features and treatment outcomes of patients with neuropathic pain.Methods196patients with neuropathic pain were admitted to our hospitalfrom February2012to December2013. A detailed record was produced toinvestigate the multiple aspects about neuropathic pain which includedgeneral information(gender, age, educational level, employment status, etc.),the pain characters,the pain intensity,disease duration and the impact onhealth-related quality of life. The pain intensity,sleep and emotional disordersof all patients were assessed by visual analogue scale(VAS) and the efficacyand drug treatment were recorded after eight weeks of treatment. Thepost-herpetic neuralgia(PHN) patients who use pregabalin or gabapentinseparately treatment are compared by efficacy and adverse reactions,usingVAS assessment of two groups of patients at beginning of the study and after1,2,4and8weeks of pain intensity and the degree of sleep and mooddisorders.Results Among the196patients with neuropathic pain, patients withperipheral neuropathic pain (n=172,87.8%)was much more than those ofcentral neuropathic pain (n=19,9.7%)(9:1), and the cure rate was significantlyhigher in the patients with peripheral neuropathic pain (33.1%vs 0%;χ2=8.975, p=0.001).We have found that the majority of patients weremedian and old people, with78.6％of them were more than50years old.The disease duration all the patients were ranging from7days to10years and86.2%of the patients were more than30days.There were88.3%of patientsshowed moderate or severe pain and66.3%of patients with varying degreesof sleep or emotional disorders. The visual analogue scale (VAS) scores inpain (2.17+1.64)after8weeks treatment was significantly decreased ascompared with those in the baseline period (6.63+1.41, P=000). Sleep andmood disorders after treatment were significantly improved as compared withthose of baseline (P<0.05). Only22patients (11.2%) presented with transientdizziness, fatigue, peripheral edema and other adverse reactions. Among196patients,33patients(16.8%) were completely cured;23patients (11.8%) hada significantly more effect;101cases(51.5%) effective and39patients(19.9%)invalid;the total clinical efficiency was80.1%. Those people who were givenpregabalin or gabapentin treatment monotherapy had a significantly improvedon the VAS scores of pain, mood and sleep states.The efficacy ofpregabalin-treated patients was more pronounced at each point of observationthan that of gabapentin-treated group with significant difference (P<0.05) andthe two incidence of adverse reactions was no significantdifference(χ2=1.412,p=0.235）.Conclusions As a global burden of disease, neuropathic pain is oftenassociated with mood and sleep disorders and severely reduce the patients,overall health-related quality of life.Peripheral neuropathic pain are in themajority. It tends to attack older people,severe pain and long duration, andthe overall clinical cure rate is low. Pregabalin and gabapentin are usedeffectively to alleviate pain and improve the QOL of the patients with PHN,and the former is better.