ReviewJournal of clinical medicine2022
Pharmacological Management of Neuropathic Pain after Radiotherapy in Head and Neck Cancer Patients: A Systematic Review.
Review in Journal of clinical medicine, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 19 citations in OpenAlex.
- Prevalence and characteristics of persistent pain among head and neck cancer survivors: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Pain medicine (Malden, Mass.) · 2025Pooled it
- Exploratory Research: Patient-Reported Factors Contributing to Decreased Oral Intake During Radiotherapy in Head and Neck Cancer.Head & neck · 2025Article
- Article
- A Narrative Review on Pain Management in Head and Neck Cancer: Integrating Multimodal Analgesia and Interventional Procedures.Anesthesiology and pain medicine · 2024Review
- Quality of life, craniomandibular function, and psychosocial factors related to pain and movement in patients with head and neck cancer.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2024Article
- Challenges and Opportunities in Developing Tailored Pain Management Strategies for Liver Patients.Cureus · 2023Review
- What's New in Neuropathy?Cureus · 2023Review
- Review
- The Diagnostic Odyssey of Patients with Chronic Neuropathic Pain-Expert Opinion of Greek Pain Specialists.Clinics and practice · 2023Review
- Enhanced acupuncture therapy for radiotherapy-related neuropathic pain in patients with gynecologic cancer: a report of two cases and brief review.Frontiers in neurology · 2023Article
- Relationship between breakthrough cancer pain, background cancer pain and analgesic treatment - case series and review of the literature.Drugs in context · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Neuropathic pain (NP) in head and neck cancer (HNC) patients represents a treatment challenge. Most studies investigating drugs against NP are conducted in patients suffering with diabetic neuropathy or postherpetic neuralgia, while data are limited in cancer pain management. Additionally, regarding cancer therapy-related NP, most of the studies do not focus on HNC patients. The aim of this review is to identify the studies on systematically administered medication for NP management that included HNC patients under radiotherapy. Methods: A systematic literature search was performed, following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, in PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science and ClinicalTrials.gov on 30 October 2021. The medical subject heading (MeSH) terms were (“head and neck cancer” OR “tumor”) AND “neuropathic pain” AND “medication” AND “radiotherapy.” The Cochrane Collaboration tool was used for quality assessment. Results: The search identified 432 articles. Three more articles were identified after searching the reference lists of the retrieved articles. A total of 10 articles met the eligibility inclusion criteria and were included in this review; 6 on gabapentin, 1 on pregabalin, 1 on nortriptyline, 1 on methadone, and 1 on ketamine. Statistically significant results in pain reduction compared to placebo or standard pain medication were found in the studies on pregabalin (p = 0.003), methadone (p = 0.03), ketamine (p = 0.012), and in two out of six gabapentin studies (p < 0.004). Two of the studies (both concerning gabapentin) had no comparison arm. Conclusions: Treatments including pregabalin, methadone, ketamine, and gabapentin were found to provide pain relief against HNC NP. While there is a plethora of pharmacological treatments available for the management of NP, only a few studies have been conducted regarding the pharmacological management of therapy-related NP in HNC patients. More studies should be conducted regarding the pharmacological approaches in HNC therapy-related NP so that specific treatment algorithms can be developed.
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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.