Treatment of Neuropathic Pain in Leprosy

Summary

Despite large efforts to eradicate leprosy, this curable mycobacterial infection still affects 250,000 new individuals annually. Half of the globe's leprosy patients live in Brazil and India. In 2013, 33,033 new leprosy cases diagnosed in Brazil, with an average incidence of 1.05 cases / 10 000 inhabitants. Recently a new concept of care after cure has called attention for severe pain in previously treated patients, particularly, neuropathic pain. Even so, until now no single drug has been studied for the treatment of pain in this patients, and the use of drugs is based on the study of other diseases. We designed the first placebo-controlled, double blinded randomized trial in the use of flexible-dose amitriptyline (tricyclic antidepressant) for the treatment of neuropathic pain related to leprosy

Timeline

Start

2017-03-01

Primary completion

2021-05-03

Completion

2022-08-01

Publications

• Junior JAMP, Kubota GT, Moreira LI, Fernandes AM, Aparecida da Silva V, Stump PRNAG, do Nascimento DC, Marciano LHSC, Nascimento NGC, Barreto JA, de Arruda Steffen F, Martins PN, Benard G, Trindade MAB, Pazzini R, Junior JR, Yeng LT, Teixeira MJ, Ciampi de Andrade D. Amitriptyline for neuropathic pain in patients with leprosy: a bicenter randomized controlled trial. Pain. 2026 May 18. doi: 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000004005. Online ahead of print.

Drugs

Indications