The study aimed to explore the effect of the dopamine agonist apomorphine on spontaneous pain intensity and evoked cold clinical and experimental pain in patients with lumbar radicular neuropathic pain (NP). Patients received either apomorphine or placebo in a randomized double-blinded manner.
Although evidence suggests that dopaminergic systems are involved in pain processing, the efficacy of dopaminergic interventions in reducing pain remains questionable. This randomized, double blinded, placebo-controlled, cross-over study was aimed to explore the effect of the dopamine agonist apomorphine on spontaneous pain intensity and evoked cold clinical and experimental pain in patients with lumbar radicular neuropathic pain (NP). Data was collected from 35 patients (18 men, mean age 56.2±13.1 years). The following five pain measures were tested before (baseline) and 30, 75 and 120 min subsequent to subcutaneous injection of 1.5 mg apomorphine or placebo in two separate sessions: spontaneous pain intensity, threshold and tolerance to cold pain in the most painful site in the affected leg and in a remote healthy site in the dominant hand.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
TRIPLE
Enrollment
59
Rambam Health Care Campus
Haifa, Israel
Experimental and clinical cold pain tolerance measured in seconds
Time frame: Up to 120 minutes after drug administration
Experimental and clinical cold pain threshold measured in seconds
Time frame: Up to 120 minutes after drug administration
Spontaneous clinical pain intensity measured on a numeric pain scale (NPS, 0-100)
Time frame: Up to 120 minutes after drug administration
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