ArticleThe primary care companion for CNS disorders2014
A double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group pilot study of milnacipran for chronic radicular pain (sciatica) associated with lumbosacral disc disease.
Article in The primary care companion for CNS disorders, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT01777581 (A Ten-Week, Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Parallel-Group Study of Milnacipran for Radicular Pain Associated With Lumbosacral Disk Disease), which is not on this map. Cited by 3 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
A Ten-Week, Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Parallel-Group Study of Milnacipran for Radicular Pain Associated With Lumbosacral Disk Disease
Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 6 citations in OpenAlex.
- Antidepressants for low back pain and spine-related leg pain.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2025Pooled it
- Efficacy and safety of antidepressants for the treatment of back pain and osteoarthritis: systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2021Pooled it
- Alternatives to Opioids in the Pharmacologic Management of Chronic Pain Syndromes: A Narrative Review of Randomized, Controlled, and Blinded Clinical Trials.Anesthesia and analgesia · 2017Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveThe current study investigates whether milnacipran, an equipotent serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor, is effective in reducing chronic radicular pain in patients (N = 11) with lumbosacral disc disease.
methodThis study is a 10-week randomized, parallel-group, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of milnacipran (100-200 mg/d, dosed twice a day). Subjects (enrolled from October 2010 to September 2011 through the Duke University Pain and Palliative Care Clinic, Durham, North Carolina) included patients with radiologically confirmed disc disease with nerve root compression. The primary outcome measure was radicular pain measured by visual analog scale score (VAS-Rad); patients were asked to specifically rate radicular pain ("shooting or electrical or prickly pain in 1 or both legs"). Secondary outcome measures included nociceptive low back pain by visual analog scale (VAS-Noc), Oswestry Low Back Pain Disability Questionnaire, Neuropathic Pain Questionnaire, Medical Outcomes Study (MOS) 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey, Beck Depression Inventory, and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Between-group changes in outcome measures between baseline and endpoint were analyzed using Mann-Whitney U nonparametric measure of central tendency.
resultsMilnacipran treatment yielded statistically significant reduction in radicular pain (VAS-Rad, P = .01) and nociceptive low back pain (VAS-Noc, P = .04) compared to placebo. No statistically significant between-group differences were observed in the other secondary outcome measures.
conclusionsIn this small pilot study, milnacipran treatment was associated with reduction in radicular and nociceptive low back pain in patients with lumbosacral disc disease. Larger studies of milnacipran in this population are warranted.
trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01777581.
Identifiers
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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.