ArticleThe ocular surface2020
Efficacy and tolerability of nortriptyline in the management of neuropathic corneal pain.
Article in The ocular surface, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 29 citations in OpenAlex.
- Quantitative analysis of nortriptyline's analgesic properties: a comparative systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ open · 2024Pooled it
- Complexity of recognising, diagnosing and managing corneal neuropathic pain.BMJ open ophthalmology · 2026Article
- A Scoping Review of Pharmacologic and Nonpharmacologic Interventions to Treat Chronic Ocular Pain.Journal of neuro-ophthalmology : the official journal of the North American Neuro-Ophthalmology Society · 2026Article
- Chronic Ocular Surface Pain: A Missing Member of the Chronic Overlapping Pain Conditions?Drugs · 2026Review
- Treatment of neuropathic pain in diabetic rats with synergistic combinations of nortriptyline + tramadol and nortriptyline + ibuprofen.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2026Article
- Navigating the Dry Eye Therapeutic Puzzle: A Mechanism-Based Overview of Current Treatments.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- CORONIS symposium 2023: Scientific and clinical frontiers in ocular surface innervation.Acta ophthalmologica · 2025Article
- Development and validation of a deep learning model for diagnosing neuropathic corneal pain via in vivo confocal microscopy.NPJ digital medicine · 2025Article
- Corneal neuropathic pain: a review to inform clinical practice.Eye (London, England) · 2024Review
- Corneal Neuropathic Pain: A Patient and Physician Perspective.Ophthalmology and therapy · 2024Article
- Effect of topical application of amitriptyline and nortriptyline on irreversible pulpitis pain in teeth with failed pulpal anesthesia after a successful inferior alveolar nerve block: A randomized clinical trial.Dental research journal · 2024Article
- Neuropathic ocular surface pain: Emerging drug targets and therapeutic implications.Expert opinion on therapeutic targets · 2022Review
- Differential Effects of Treatment Strategies in Individuals With Chronic Ocular Surface Pain With a Neuropathic Component.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2021Article
- Exploring the Link Between Dry Eye and Migraine: From Eye to Brain.Eye and brain · 2021Review
- Genome Wide Association Study of Neuropathic Ocular Pain.Ophthalmology scienceArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
purposeNeuropathic corneal pain (NCP) is a recently acknowledged disease entity. However, there is no consensus in potential treatment strategies, particularly in patients with a centralized component of pain. This study aims to assess the efficacy and tolerability of the tricyclic antidepressant, nortriptyline, among NCP patients.
methodsPatients with clinically diagnosed NCP and a centralized component of pain, treated with oral nortriptyline, who had recorded pain scores as assessed by the ocular pain assessment survey at the first and last visit were included. Patients were excluded if they had any other ocular pathology that might result in pain or had less than 4 weeks of nortriptyline use. Demographics, time between visits, concomitant medications, systemic and ocular co-morbidities, duration of NCP, side effects, ocular pain scores, and quality of life (QoL) assessment were recorded.
resultsThirty patients with a mean age of 53.1 ± 18.5 were included. Male to female ratio was 8:22. Mean ocular pain in the past 24 h improved from 5.7 ± 2.1 to 3.6 ± 2.1 after 10.5 ± 9.1 months (p < 0.0001). Twelve patients (40.0%) had equal to or more than 50% improvement, 6 patients (20.0%) had 30-49% improvement, 6 patients (20.0%) had 1-29% improvement, 4 patients (13.3%) did not improve, while 2 patients (6.7%) reported increase in pain levels. Mean QoL improved from 6.0 ± 2.5 to 4.3 ± 2.4 (p = 0.019). Eight patients (26.6%) discontinued treatment due to persistent side effects, despite improvement by 22.4%.
conclusionNortriptyline was effective in relieving NCP symptoms in patients with centralized component and insufficient response to other systemic and topical therapies who tolerated the drug for at least 4 weeks. Nortriptyline may be used in the management of patients with NCP.
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Registered trials
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