Lamotrigine in the treatment of chronic refractory neuropathic pain

Abstract

Many patients suffer from chronic, intractable neuropathic pain. Despite similar diagnoses and presumed pathophysiologies, symptoms and response to treatment can differ. Monotherapy is only occasionally successful. In this prospective survey, 20 patients with chronic, neuropathic pain not responding to interventional therapy received lamotrigine, sometimes as monotherapy and sometimes combined with oral morphine. The latter occurred in patients who lost pain relief from morphine after time. Ten patients did not respond to the drug; 4 were temporary responders and 6 patients obtained sustained pain relief. It is interesting that 5 patients regained opioid responsiveness and that the drug combination produced excellent pain relief for more than 5 months. We hypothesize an additive effect between morphine and lamotrigine.