IV Lidocaine promising in fibromyalgia-- Medscape article

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

I thought you might find the following article interesting. I got it

through my nursing continuing education through Medscape.

Hope you're well today.

in MN

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IV Lidocaine Promising in Fibromyalgia

BRIGHTON, UK (Reuters Health) Apr 25 - Patients with fibromyalgia who

have not responded to standard treatments may benefit from an

intravenous infusion of the anaesthetic lignocaine (lidocaine),

according to results of a pilot study presented here at the British

Society for Rheumatology meeting on Wednesday.

Although the results are preliminary, researchers say they are

promising enough to warrant further investigation.

Systematic administration of local anaesthetics is common in other

neuropathic disorders, but UK physicians found that the use of

intravenous anaesthetics in fibromyalgia had not been investigated.

Dr J. H. Raphael, of the Dudley Group of Hospitals in West Midlands,

and colleagues offered intravenous lignocaine to 55 patients who

failed to respond to physical, psychological, or traditional

pharmacological therapy and had no cardiac conduction abnormalities.

After treatment, they asked patients to recall how much pain they

felt before and after therapy and questioned them about sleeping

habits, sex life, social life, their ability to work, and general

psychological well being.

Among 50 patients who responded to the questionnaire, the median pain

score dropped from 9 before treatment to 5 after (p < 0.001), based

on an 11-point rating scale.

The effect of the therapy reduced depression from a median of 8 to 5,

dependency from 8 to 5, and ability to cope from 9 to 5, all

statistically significant (p < 0.001), the investigators reported.

Patients also felt an improvement in their social and sex lives

because of reduced pain. The therapy had no effect on their ability

to work.

" This is a pilot study on a relatively risky therapy, and our

conclusions are rather cautious, " Dr. Raphael, a consultant in pain

relief, told Reuters Health.

" We don't know whether it is the pharmacological agent, or whether it

is a psychological or physical thing. But we think there may be

something going on, and we think these results merit us continuing

with prospective randomised controlled trials, " he said.