Comparative Study of Efficacy of Pregabalin and Lacosamide in Neuropathic Pain

Abstract

Introduction: Lacosamide is a noval anti-epileptic drug, which is being evaluated for the treatment of Neuropathic Pain. The role of pregabalin in neuropathic pain is already well-established. So, the scope of the study is to compare the effectiveness of lacosamide (a newer molecule), with a well-established pregabalin. Methods: 107 patients, who met the inclusion criteria, were enrolled in the study. Patients are randomly arranged into 2 groups, each group receiving either lacosamide or pregabalin. Comparison is done among both the groups, to assess the Efficacy, and Quality of Life, using Visual Analog Scale (VAS) and SF-36 Questionnaire respectively. Patients are assessed during the first visit, and follow up is done after one month of initial treatment and subsequent reviews done in 2 months interval, up to 6 months. Results: After analysis it was found that out of 107 patients, 54 patients were enrolled into the lacosamide treatment group and the remaining 53 into the pregabalin treatment group.Severity of pain was significantly reduced in patients treated with lacosamide, compared to that of pregabalin. Quality of life of the patients treated with lacosamide showed greater improvement compared to that of pregabalin. Conclusion: Based on study results, it was concluded that lacosamide has greater efficacy compared to that of pregabalin. Patients treated with lacosamide had significant improvement in quality of life compared to that of pregabalin. Consequently, this study supports the use of lacosamide for neuropathic pain over pregabalin.