Analysis of the Efficacy of the Lidocaine Patch 5% in the Treatment of Neuropathic Pain: Our Feedback

Objective: the objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of the lidocaine patch 5% in different types of neuropathic pain. Methods: a prospective, longitudinal, observational study on a sample of 16 patients who consulted for neuropathic pain. A lidocaine patch 5% was applied to the painful area and as primary endpoint, the severity of the pain was studied using the Verbal Numeric Rating Scale (VNRS). Secondary quality of life-related endpoints were sleep during the night, mood and patient global impression of the treatment. Results: demographic data: 62.5% female and 37.5% male; mean age 55.31 ± 13.9 years; time since onset of the pain 8.4 months; and classified into 4 diagnosis groups: post-herpetic neuralgia 18.8%; complex regional pain syndrome 25%; surgical wound 50%; and others 6.3%. There was a reduction of more than 2 points in pain on the VNRS (median 6.5 to 3.5; p = 0.001), an improvement in sleep during the night, mood and relief (p < 0.05), less use of analgesics, no complications and over 30% of subjects reported improvement of over 50%. Conclusions: The lidocaine patch 5% could be a useful tool for the control of neuropathic pain, not only for post-herpetic neuralgia, and it has a good safety and tolerability profile.