Tuesday 11 July 2017

Opioids combined with antidepressants or antiepileptic drugs for cancer pain: Systematic review and meta-analysis

Palliative Medicine; June 2017
Kane, Chris M; Mulvey, Matthew R; Wright, Sophie; Craigs, Cheryl; Wright, Judy M; Bennett, Michael I

The aim of this study was to determine if there is additional benefit when opioids are combined with antidepressant or antiepileptic drugs for cancer pain. The authors conclude that combination therapy did not significantly improve pain relief in patients with tumour-related cancer pain compared with opioid monotherapy but due to the heterogeneity of patient samples, benefit in patients with definite neuropathic cancer pain cannot be excluded.

Fulltext is available in Palliative Medicine
Available in print in Arthur Rank Hospice Library, Cambridge