Trial reportBritish journal of clinical pharmacology2000
Topical application of doxepin hydrochloride, capsaicin and a combination of both produces analgesia in chronic human neuropathic pain: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study.
Trial report in British journal of clinical pharmacology, 2000. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 46 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
46 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 192 citations in OpenAlex.
- Topical capsaicin (low concentration) for chronic neuropathic pain in adults.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2012Pooled it
- Combination pharmacotherapy for the treatment of neuropathic pain in adults.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2012Pooled it
- Topical capsaicin for chronic neuropathic pain in adults.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2009Pooled it
- Antidepressants for neuropathic pain.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2007Pooled it
- Systematic review of topical capsaicin for the treatment of chronic pain.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2004Pooled it
- Trachyspermum ammi 10 % topical cream versus placebo on neuropathic pain, a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2016Trial
- A phase III randomized, placebo-controlled study of topical amitriptyline and ketamine for chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN): a University of Rochester CCOP study of 462 cancer survivors.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2014Trial
- Topical Pain Management: An Updated Review of Current Evidence and Emerging Strategies.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Review
- Topical analgesics for neuropathic pain: an evidence-informed guide for the practicing clinician.Pain medicine (Malden, Mass.) · 2026Review
- Cooling the burn: EMLA alone vs. paravertebral block plus EMLA for improving tolerability of 8% capsaicin patch application in thoracic postherpetic neuralgia-a retrospective cohort study.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2026Article
- Non-Inferiority Study of Two Capsaicin Formulations for Painful Diabetic Neuropathy.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Assessing the efficacy of topical formulations in diabetic neuropathy: a narrative review.Journal of diabetes and metabolic disorders · 2024Review
- Bioactive Compounds for Fibromyalgia-like Symptoms: A Narrative Review and Future Perspectives.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Review
- Effect of Ions and Sequence Variants on the Antagonist Binding Properties of the Histamine HInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2022Article
- Topical Treatments and Their Molecular/Cellular Mechanisms in Patients with Peripheral Neuropathic Pain-Narrative Review.Pharmaceutics · 2021Review
- Herbal Medicine for Pain Management: Efficacy and Drug Interactions.Pharmaceutics · 2021Review
- Severe medication-induced peripheral neuropathy treated with topical doxepin cream in a paediatric patient with leukaemia.BMJ case reports · 2017Article
- Topical Treatments for Localized Neuropathic Pain.Current pain and headache reports · 2017Review
- Capsaicin: Current Understanding of Its Mechanisms and Therapy of Pain and Other Pre-Clinical and Clinical Uses.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2016Review
- Novel Treatment of Radicular Pain With a Multi-Mechanistic Combination Topical Agent: A Case Series and Literature Review.Anesthesiology and pain medicine · 2016Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
aimsTo assess the analgesic efficacy of topical administration of 3.3% doxepin hydrochloride, 0.025% capsaicin and a combination of 3. 3% doxepin and 0.025% capsaicin in human chronic neuropathic pain.
methodsA randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of 200 consenting adult patients. Patients applied placebo, doxepin, capsaicin or doxepin/capsaicin cream daily for 4 weeks. Patients recorded on a daily basis overall pain, shooting, burning, paraesthesia and numbness using a 0-10 visual analogue scale during the week prior to cream application (baseline levels) and for the 4 week study period. Side-effects and desire to continue treatment were also recorded.
resultsOverall pain was significantly reduced by doxepin, capsaicin and doxepin/capsaicin to a similar extent. The analgesia with doxepin/capsaicin was of more rapid onset. Capsaicin significantly reduced sensitivity and shooting pain. Burning pain was increased by doxepin and by capsaicin and to a lesser extent by doxepin/capsaicin. Side-effects were minor. One patient requested to continue placebo cream, 17 doxepin cream, 13 capsaicin and 9 the combination of doxepin and capsaicin.
conclusionsTopical application of 3.3% doxepin, 0.025% capsaicin and 3.3% doxepin/0. 025% capsaicin produces analgesia of similar magnitude. The combination produces more rapid analgesia.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.