Oxcarbazepine: A usable alternative to carbamazepine in the treatment of trigeminal neuralgia- A pilot study and drug review

Abstract

Trigeminal neuralgia (TN) is an extremely debilitating neuropathic pain in which Carbamazepine (CBZ) is the preferred drug of choice in pharmacological management and surgical intervention to be considered only when drug therapy proves ineffective. However, it’s long-term use leads to refraction along with severe side effects has made to search for a suitable alternative to CBZ.Present study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of Oxcarbazepine (OXC) in those patients, who failed to get adequate relief despite taking CBZ for longer span. 15 patients including 12 males and 3 females (age group 30-65 years) mean age 53.3 years were prescribed OXC in subsequent doses of 300mg, 600mg, 900mg, maximum up to 2400mg and the pain relief was analysed using grading as No response, Moderate and Excellent response. Significant pain relief was observed as the dose was increased in the range of 1200-2400mg. Likert scale (5 points scale) for treatment satisfaction was used in which 2 patients marked as very satisfied, 11 patients were found to be satisfied, whereas only 2 marked as neither satisfied nor dissatisfied. : OXC, proves to be a useable alternative to CBZ in terms of being cost effective, better pain control and less side effects. A brief review of the drug OXC is also added.