Neuropathic pain after chemotherapy treated with tapentadol — a case report

Abstract

Neuropathic pain is a pain caused by damage or disease affecting the somatosensory nervous system (peripheral or central). There may be various origins of NP, such as infection, trauma, metabolic disorders, chemotherapy, surgery and/or neural compression. Patients usually report a continuous burning pain, which may be accompanied by paroxysms of lancinating or electrical pain — spontaneous or secondary to small stimuli. Pain may occur as response to a painful stimulus (hyperalgesia), or in response to non-painful stimuli (allodynia). Neuropathic pain is difficult to treat because of different symptoms and mechanisms involved in its occurrence. Although opioid analgesics can be an effective treatment option in many cases of severe chronic pain, in many cases of neuropathic pain conditions using them alone may not be fully effective. Opioids are usually considered as a second or third line treatment option in neuropathic pain. In many cases an effective treatment cannot be achieved due to poor tolerability of it or side effects. Tapentadol prolonged release, a centrally acting analgesic with 2 mechanisms of action, μ-opioid receptor agonist and noradrenaline reuptake inhibitor, provides strong and reliable analgesia across a range of indications, including nociceptive, neuropathic, and mixed types of chronic pain, and is associated with an improved tolerability profile relative to classic opioid analgesics. The purpose of this article was to demonstrate clinical efficacy of tapentadol PR in association to pregabalin for the treatment of neuropathic pain caused by oxaliplatin chemotherapy.