Levetiracetam as analgesic

Abstract

Soon after the introduction in the treatment of epilepsy, antiepileptic drugs found their place also in the pain treatment. Antiepileptic drugs represent important drugs for neuropathic pain treatment, although their chronic use may be accompanied by some side effects. Levetiracetam is a novel antiepileptic drug with an unusually high safety margin. There is increasing evidence about the analgesic properties of levetiracetam. Preclinical studies have demonstrated analgesic effects of levetiracetam in neuropathic and inflammatory pain models. Until now, clinical studies have confirmed the efficacy of levetiracetam in various forms of neuropathic pain (trigeminal and postherpetic neuralgia, pain in multiple sclerosis) as well as in migraine prophylaxis. The mechanisms and sites of levetiracetam's analgesic action are poorly understood. Although there are positive preclinical and clinical data on the analgesic properties of levetiracetam, additional larger-scale clinical trials are needed to further clarify the role of levetiracetam in the pain treatment.

Ubrzo nakon uvođenja u terapiju epilepsije, antiepileptici su počeli da se koriste i u terapiji bola. Antiepileptici danas predstavljaju važnu farmakoterapijsku grupu lekova u tretmanu neuropatskog bola, mada njihova hronična primena može biti praćena izvesnim neželjenim efektima. Levetiracetam je antiepileptik novije generacije sa neuobičajeno povoljnim bezbednosnim profilom. Sve je više dokaza o analgetičkim svojstvima levetiracetama. Pretkliničke studije su pokazale da levetiracetam ostvaruje analgetičko dejstvo u neuropatskim i inflamatornim modelima bola. Kliničke studije su za sada potvrdile efikasnost levetiracetama u različitim oblicima neuropatskog bola (trigeminalna i postherpetička neuralgija, bol u multiploj sklerozi) i u profilaksi migrene. Mehanizam i mesto analgetičkog dejstva levetiracetama nedovoljno su ispitani. Iako postoje pozitivni pretklinički i klinički pokazatelji o analgetičkoj efikasnosti levetiracetama, potrebna su dodatna opsežnija klinička ispitivanja kako bi se jasnije odredila uloga levetiracetama u terapiji bola.