Clinical, therapeutic and functional characteristics of neuropathic pain in patients seen at a specialized institute: A cross-sectional study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21765558Keywords:
neuropathic pain, sciatica, pregabalin, disability, ParaguayAbstract
Introduction: Neuropathic pain is a form of chronic pain associated with functional impairment, reduced quality of life and high diagnostic and therapeutic complexity. In clinical practice, presentations related to the lumbar spine and radicular pain represent an important share of conditions with a neuropathic component. Objective: To describe the sociodemographic, diagnostic, therapeutic and functional characteristics of patients with neuropathic pain seen at the Randall Institute during 2023. Materials and methods: Observational, descriptive, cross-sectional study based on clinical records. Thirty-four patients with a diagnosis of neuropathic pain were analyzed; 41 records were excluded because of incomplete information or lack of diagnostic confirmation. Sex, age, diagnoses, prescribed drugs, Oswestry Disability Index and visual analogue scale for pain were described. Results: Of 75 records reviewed, 34 met the analysis criteria. Women accounted for 62% and men for 38%. The highest concentration of cases was observed in the 61–70 and 71–80-year age groups. The most frequent diagnoses were sciatica (45%) and lumbar facet syndrome (23%). The most prescribed drugs were Prebictal (17 patients), pregabalin (12) and Xumer (7); several patients received more than one medication. Before the reported treatment, the Oswestry Disability Index showed intense disability in 45%, severe in 33% and moderate in 24%; at two months, minimal disability predominated in 68%. On the visual analogue scale for pain, 21% of patients reported 90% improvement and 9% complete improvement. Conclusions: In the analyzed sample, neuropathic pain was more frequent in women and older adults, with a predominance of lumboradicular diagnoses. Management was mainly pharmacological, especially with gabapentinoids and adjuvant analgesics. The observed improvement in functional and pain scales should be interpreted with caution because of the descriptive nature of the study and the absence of analytical comparison.
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