Lamotrigine in the treatment of chronic refractory neuropathic pain

Many patients suffer from chronic, intractable neuropathic pain. Despite similar diagnoses and presumed pathophysiologies, symptoms and response to treatment can differ. Monotherapy is only occasionally successful. In this prospective survey, 20 patients with chronic, neuropathic pain not responding to interventional therapy received lamotrigine, sometimes as monotherapy and sometimes combined with oral morphine. The latter occurred in patients who lost pain relief from morphine after time. Ten patients did not respond to the drug; 4 were temporary responders and 6 patients obtained sustained relief. It is interesting that 5 patients regained opioid responsiveness and that the drug combination produced excellent pain relief for more that 5 months. We hypothesize an additive effect between morphine and lamotrigine (C) U.S. Cancer Pain Relief Committee, 2000.