Abstract
Introduction
Chronic low back pain associated with rediculopathy is a common reason for physician visits but no guidelines are available for management of these patients in Uganda. A placebo controlled trial on efficacy of Pregabaline among patients with lumbosacral radiculopathy in Germany was inconclusive on the benefit of Pregabaline1 in reducing pain. In another study in USA using Pregabaline showed inferior effect of Pregabaline monotherapy to combination with Celecoxib on resolution of symptoms.2 We evaluated clinical response to Pregabaline monotherapy on low back pain associated with radiculopathy at the Orthopedics clinic of Fort Portal Regional Referral Hospital in Western Uganda.
Methods
In this prospective study conducted from February to July 2015, 15 patients with chronic low back pain associated with rediculopathy exceeding 3 months were seen in the orthopaedic outpatient clinic at Fort Portal Regional Referral and all were treated with a 4 week course of oral Pregabaline (75mg taken once a day) and evaluated for clinical improvement. Visual Analogue Score (VAS) for pain was used to assess the degree of pain among patients after 4 weeks of treatment. Structured questionnaires were used to capture sociodemographic and clinical data.
Results
Of the 15 patients 10 were females and 5 were males, with age range of 28 -75 years and mean age 53 years. Three patients were unable to walk before treatment due to pain. Before treatment with Pregabaline all the patients had Visual Analogue score of 8–10. After 4 weeks of treatment with oral Pregabaline 13 patients showed significant improvement with reduction in the Visual Analogue score to 0–2 while 2 patients had modest reduction in Visual Analogue score of 6–8.
Conclusion
Oral Pregabaline has good effect on the treatment of patients with low back pain associated with rediculopathy. However further research is needed with sufficient sample, randomization and longer follow up.
Baron R, Freynhagen R, Cloutier C, et al. The efficacy and safety of pregabaline in the treatment of neuropathic pain associated with chronic lumbosacral radiculopathy. Pain 2010;150(3):420–427
Romanò CL, Romanò D, Bonora C, Mineo G. Pregabalin, celecoxib, and their combination for treatment of chronic low-back pain. J Orthop Traumatol 2009;10(4):185–191