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    Abstract Gabapentinoids are effective adjunct drugs for reducing postoperative pain. However, the effects of gabapentinoids on wound healing have not been evaluated yet. In this study we evaluated their effects on wound healing. A total of 17 male Wistar‐Albino rats, 250–350 g, were divided into three groups randomly: control group ( n = 5, 2 ml saline), gabapentin group ( n = 6, 20 mg/kg gabapentin) and pregabalin group ( n = 6, 20 mg/kg pregabalin). Until day 13 inflammation scores were significantly lower ( P < 0·05) and wound healing was significantly better in the control group when compared with gabapentin and pregabalin groups ( P < 0·001). Inflammation scores were significantly lower in pregabalin group when compared with gabapentin group until day 13. But wound healing was significantly better in gabapentin group than in pregabalin group between days 13 and 21. In conclusion when gabapentin and pregabalin were compared, although pregabalin decreases inflammation scores, gabapentin has better results in wound healing.
    Pregabalin
    Citations (18)
    Abstract: Pregabalin (Lyrica ® ) may have an anxiolytic effect. It has also been reported that the use of this drug helps prevent excessive use of benzodiazepines. The aim of the present study was to examine if pregabalin reduced the intake of benzodiazepines. In a pharmacoepidemiological study, we compared pregabalin to the older drug gabapentin (Neurontin ® ) in the Norwegian Prescription Database. The database has total capture of all prescribed drugs outside institutions. We identified all prescriptions for the two drugs for patients aged 18–69 years between 2004 and 2007. Patients were grouped as psychiatric patients, patients with epilepsy, patients with neuropathic pain or non‐specified users. We measured the use of benzodiazepines 182 days before and after the initiation of treatment with pregabalin and gabapentin. Between 15% and 29% of the patients were able to stop using benzodiazepines after starting pregabalin or gabapentin treatment. Psychiatric patients who started pregabalin were able to reduce the amount of benzodiazepines used by 48%, compared to only 14% among starters of gabapentin. This study shows that some patients reduced their use of benzodiazepines substantially after starting pregabalin.
    Pregabalin
    Norwegian
    Pregabalin and gabapentin are amino-acid derivatives of gamma-aminobutyric acid. They have a high affinity to the α2δ protein in the central nervous system and both have been shown to be effective for neuropathic pain disorder. The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of gabapentin and pregabalin in animal models of neuropathic pain, and to correlate with clinical outcomes in patients with diabetic neuropathy. Gabapentin (60 mg/kg) and pregabalin (30 mg/kg) attenuate mechanical, tactile and heat hypersensitivity in rats with chronic constriction injury of the sciatic nerve and streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetes. There is no evidence that one of the drugs is superior to another at the different rat models and tests. In the incisional pain model, there was partial efficacy of gabapentin. Our clinical data suggest that relative to the baseline pain score, the treatment with pregabalin at doses of 300 mg/day or gabapentin at doses of 900 mg/day would be effective and well tolerated in patients diagnosed with moderate diabetic polyneuropathy. The study suggested that pregabalin may provide better analgesic outcomes than gabapentin on the sixth month of treatment. In conclusion, the comparative effects of gabapentinoids in animal models of neuropathic pain and neuropathic patients are suggestive of similar pathophysiological mechanisms being involved, but successful outcome is determined by a patient's individuality and the drug nature as well as the drug tolerability.
    Pregabalin
    Tolerability
    Diabetic Neuropathy
    Gabapentin and pregabalin prescribing in Scotland has increased substantially over recent years. Evidence suggests that prescribers may be advocating the use of these medicines off-label to avoid prescribing opioid analgesics. The evidence to support gabapentin and pregabalin use in non-neuropathic pain disorders indicates they are less effective than several other licensed non-opioid analgesics. Notably, patients may not benefit from gabapentin and pregabalin but remain at risk of adverse drug reactions. Furthermore, greater availability has resulted in increased diversion of gabapentin and pregabalin; creating problems within the opioid misuse population and prison service. As a consequence, both gabapentin and pregabalin may soon be controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. Prescribers should be aware of the very limited clinical evidence for use of gabapentin and pregabalin outside their licensed indications, as well as their capacity to do harm.
    Pregabalin
    Citations (54)
    Gabapentinoids comprise the medications gabapentin and pregabalin. These were designed to not only look chemically like the central inhibitory neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) but also act like it. The prototype gabapentin was primarily introduced to be used as antiepileptic medication. Today, both chemicals are not only utilized as adjunct antiepileptics in focal (aware and impaired awareness) seizures but are also used in several neuropathic pain conditions and other clinical indications. Their use has skyrocketed in the past few years and this has brought forward more instances of adverse effects and errors in prescribing practices. We describe here a case of a female patient with a history of diabetes, diabetic neuropathy, and hypertension being prescribed both gabapentin and pregabalin concomitantly which led to adverse effects like drowsiness, dizziness, fatigue, and ataxia. Once the patient medication profile was revisited, the pharmacy staff was able to identify the therapeutic duplications (gabapentin and pregabalin). The physician was contacted and pregabalin was discontinued. This led to the disappearance of the adverse effects. The dose of the existing gabapentin was increased to control the symptoms of diabetic neuropathy. This report sheds light on the importance of responsible prescribing, efficient checking of medication profiles on the level of dispensing pharmacies, and timely follow-up to patients to keep the patients safe and their medical conditions under check.
    Pregabalin
    Citations (7)
    Postherpetic neuralgia (PHN), a type of peripheral neuropathic pain (pNeP), is the most common complication of herpes zoster. The objective of this analysis was to determine the cost-effectiveness of pregabalin compared with gabapentin in pNeP and PHN in China.We developed a China-localized 12-week simulation model to determine the cost-effectiveness of pregabalin compared to gabapentin in 1000 patients with pNeP and PHN. We utilized a questionnaire of Chinese key opinion leaders to estimate the pre-treatment distribution of pain scores for pNeP and PHN. Treatment outcomes for pregabalin and gabapentin were acquired from the published literature.Treatment with pregabalin lead to 12-week decreases in pain scores of 0.6 (pNeP) and 0.7 (PHN) when compared to patients receiving gabapentin, at an incremental cost per additional day of mild/no pain of $45. The difference in mean days of no or mild pain, moderate pain, and severe pain was 8.8, -5.7, and -3.1, when comparing pregabalin and gabapentin, respectively. Pregabalin had more mean days with a >30% (7.71 days), 40% (8.97 days), and 50% reduction (9.97 days) in pain when compared with gabapentin. In the pNeP scenario, pregabalin was associated with a lower average pain score compared with gabapentin (3.91 vs. 4.55). The difference in mean days of no or mild pain, moderate pain, and severe pain was 9.39, -5.56, and -3.82, when comparing pregabalin and gabapentin, respectively. Pregabalin had more mean days with a >30% (8.77 days), 40% (9.81 days), and 50% reduction (10.55 days) in pain when compared with gabapentin.Pregabalin is an effective treatment for PHN and even for pNeP extensively, but at increased cost. It leads to improved outcomes including lower pain scores and more days with no or mild pain.Pfizer, China.
    Pregabalin
    Postherpetic Neuralgia
    Citations (16)
    The gabapentinoid drugs gabapentin and pregabalin were originally developed as antiseizure drugs but now are prescribed mainly for treatment of pain. For gabapentin, the only pain-related indication approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is postherpetic neuralgia. For pregabalin, FDA-approved indications related to pain are limited to postherpetic neuralgia, neuropathic pain associated with diabetic neuropathy or spinal cord injury, and fibromyalgia. Despite these limited indications, gabapentin and pregabalin are widely prescribed off-label for various other pain syndromes. Such use is growing, possibly because clinicians are searching increasingly for alternatives to opioids.This report summarizes the limited published evidence to support off-label gabapentinoid uses, describes clinical cases in which off-label use is problematic, and notes how review articles and guidelines tend to overstate gabapentinoid effectiveness.Clinicians who prescribe gabapentinoids off-label for pain should be aware of the limited evidence and should acknowledge to patients that potential benefits are uncertain for most off-label uses.
    Pregabalin
    Postherpetic Neuralgia
    Off-label use
    Pain is defined as an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience, associated with actual or potential tissue damage. According to its neurobiological mechanism, pain is classified into nociceptive, inflammatory, dysfunctional, and neuropathic. Neuropathic pain (NP) is caused by a lesion or disease of the somatosensory nervous system. Both pregabalin and gabapentin are pharmaceuticals used as validation drugs in experimental models of NP. Pregabalin was shown to produce significant antihyperalgesic and antiallodynic effects. Gabapentin is used as a reference compound for new analgesics and reduces tactile allodynia in rats. The aim of this work is to evaluate pregabalin and gabapentin effects on nociceptive behaviors induced by spinal nerve ligation (SNL). Female Wistar rats of 140 - 160 g were used, divided into five groups: Naive, SHAM, SNL rats treated with saline solution, SNL rats treated with pregabalin 30 mg/kg p.o., SNL rats treated with gabapentin 300 mg/kg p.o. Nociceptive behaviors were determined by the up and down method. In the establishment of SNL-induced allodynic behavior, a reduction in paw withdrawal threshold was observed in the time course, which was present from day 1 and it was maintained for 28 days post-ligation. With the administration of pregabalin and gabapentin, anti-allodynic behavior was observed in the time course and in the areas under the curve (AUC) of the time course of anti-allodynic behavior, significant difference was observed between pregabalin, and gabapentin groups compared to vehicle with a value of p < 0.0001. The results showed pregabalin and gabapentin induce an antinociceptive effect in rats subjected to SNL.
    Pregabalin
    Allodynia
    Citations (1)
    To observe the efficacy of gabapentin and pregabalin in the treatment of post-herpetic neuralgia(PHN).Sixty patients suffering from PHN were randomly divide into the gabapentin group and pregabalin group.The gabapentin group were treated by gabapentin 900mg/d for oral use and the pregabalin group were treated by pregabalin 150 mg/d for oral use.The period of both the two groups were 28 days.Before and after treatment,symptoms and signs of neuropathy including pain sleeping were observed The side effects and complications were observede.The vas score of both groups in each times was lower than before treatment(P 0.05)and the sleeping time was increased(P 0.05).The vas score of pregabalin group in the T2,T3,T4,T5,T6,T7 was lower than the gabapentin group(P 0.05).There were no severe drug adverse reaction in both groups.The incidences rate of drowsiness in pregabalin group was lower than the gabapentin group(P 0.05).There was no significant other adverse reaction between the two groups.Gregabalin was much safe and effective in the treatment of PHN than gabapentin.
    Pregabalin
    Citations (0)