ArticleTranslational cancer research2021
The efficacy of gabapentin combined with opioids for neuropathic cancer pain: a meta-analysis.
Article in Translational cancer research, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
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The trial behind it
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 20 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pathophysiology, assessment, and treatment of pain in patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.Journal of gastroenterology · 2026Review
- Advances in Pharmacologic- and Non-pharmacologic Interventions for Cancer Pain: A Narrative Review.Current treatment options in oncology · 2026Review
- Review
- A comprehensive analysis of jurisdiction-specific laws related to scheduling or required prescription drug monitoring of gabapentin in the United States, 2016-2024.The International journal on drug policy · 2026Article
- Opioid prescription patterns in long-term disease-free cancer survivors: a retrospective analysis at a single NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2025Observational
- Cancer pain: molecular mechanisms and management.Molecular biomedicine · 2025Review
- Mechanism of gabapentinoid potentiation of opioid effects on cyclic AMP signaling in neuropathic pain.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- Trends in the prescription of opioids and gabapentinoids in patients with failed back surgery syndrome in Korea: a population-based study.The Korean journal of pain · 2024Article
- Clinical Presentation and Management of Malignant Psoas Syndrome: A Scoping Review of Case Reports and Case Series.Cureus · 2023Article
- Novel Drug Targets and Emerging Pharmacotherapies in Neuropathic Pain.Pharmaceutics · 2023Review
- Evaluation of Gabapentin as a Treatment of Breakthrough Cancer Pain Caused by Metastatic Prostate Adenocarcinoma.Journal of pain research · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundMore than 30% of cancer patients experience neuropathic pain. Opioids, as standard pain-relief agents, cannot achieve satisfactory outcomes to treat neuropathic cancer pain due to drug resistance and side effects. Meanwhile, gabapentin, a third-generation anticonvulsant drug, has great potential in providing relief for neuropathic cancer pain. However, there is currently no sufficient evidence to support the efficacy of a combination of gabapentin and opioids in ameliorating neuropathic cancer pain. Hence, the aim of the present study was to explore the analgesic efficacy of gabapentin combined with opioids in treating neuropathic cancer pain.
methodsPubMed, EMBASE, and Web of Science (Web of Knowledge) were searched for randomized controlled trials and prospective studies via the following keywords: "gabapentin", "opioid", "cancer", and "neuropathic pain". We used a scale of 0-10 (0 denoting no pain and 10 denoting the worst pain imaginable) to estimate pain intensity and utilized Review Manager 5.3 and Stata12 to analyze data.
resultsSeven studies meeting our criterion were selected from 110 records that were primarily searched. The mean difference of pooled pain intensity and the 95% confidence interval (CI) was -1.75 (-2.44, -1.07) (P value <0.00001; treatment group versus control group or time to outcome assessment versus baseline). The pain intensity of cancer patients after a combined treatment of gabapentin and opioids was significantly lower than that of patients receiving opioids alone.
conclusionsOur meta-analysis showed that gabapentin combined with opioids effectively alleviated neuropathic cancer pain compared with that of opioids alone.
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