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The Effectiveness of Pregabalin in the Treatment of Neuropathic Pain in Cancer Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomised Controlled Trials

Sami M. Alshehri

Background: Neuropathic pain is a common medical condition among cancer patients, which might lead to deterioration in patients’ health and their quality of life. It is caused by nerve damage which caused by different reasons such as chemotherapy side effects or cancer itself. Recently, treating such types of pain in cancer patients became problematic for healthcare providers since some analgesics such as opioids, antiepileptics and antidepressants have been reported to have an insufficient effect on treating this type of pain in some patients.

Aims and objectives: The aim of this review is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of pregabalin in treating neuropathic cancer pain and inform decision making for all healthcare providers by establishing new clinical policies. Also, to reduce the publication’s bias and unnecessary relevant studies.

Selection criteria: The studies included in this review were only randomised controlled trials conducted on adult cancer patients with neuropathic pain (male or female >18 years). The outcomes are pain severity, sleep disturbance, side effect and quality of life.

Data collection and analysis: Relevant studies were collected and evaluated according to PRISMA. The Cochrane Criteria was used to assess the risk of bias in each included study. Eight of the included trials were evaluated narratively, while six studies were included in the meta-analysis.

Results: Fourteen studies met inclusion criteria. The results indicate that pregabalin had significantly reduced pain severity (p>0.0001) and sleep disturbance compared to placebo. However, there was no significant improvement in the quality of life compared to either placebo or other analgesics.

Conclusion: Pregabalin was an effective analgesic in relieving neuropathic cancer pain compared to placebo. However, more research might be needed in the future to compared pregabalin to more other analgesics.