Journal of Indian Academy of Oral Medicine and Radiology (Jan 2010)
A Comparative Study between Oxcarbazepine and Gabapentin Regarding Therapeutic Efficiency and Tolerability in the Treatment of Trigeminal Neuralgia
Abstract
Trigerninal neuralgia is a relapsing and remittent disorder is best symptomatically treated by medical treatment out of which carbamazepine thought to be a diagnostic drug marker of trigeminal neuralgia, has often undesirable side effects and sometimes ineffective, limiting its usage, thus search for more effective drug with lesser side effect is still on. Recently two newer anticonvulsant oxcarbazepine (OXC) a ketoderivative of carbamazepine and gabapentin (GBP) has been trailed in trigeminal neuralgia in different open clinical trial as monotherapy with encouraging results. These drugs have convenient dosage and surprisingly fewer side effects. These facts that trigeminal neuralgia responds to newer anticonvulsant (oxcarbazepine, gabapentin) in a better perspective, enabled me to conduct the present clinical trial on 54 patients (both in newly diagnosed TN patient and refractive patient) of trigeminal neuralgia who were made two randomized group for separate monotherapy study for a period of six months. The therapeutic effect of OXC and gabapentin (GBP) in relation to reduction in number of attacks of pain and severity of pain were evaluated. All the scoring data showed OXC is more therapeutic efficacious cost-effective and well-tolerated profile than gabapentin and an emerging as a drug for treatment of TN in both new and refractive patients.
