• Rudolf Likar, Susanne Demschar, Ingo Kager, Stefan Neuwersch, Wolfgang Pipam, and Reinhard Sittl.
• Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care, Hospital Klagenfurt, Klagenfurt, Austria.
• Int J Gen Med. 2015 Jan 1;8:9-14.

ObjectiveTo assess the efficacy and safety of the topical 5% lidocaine medicated plaster in the treatment of localized neuropathic pain.Study DesignThis was a case series at an Austrian pain clinic, using retrospective analysis.Patients And MethodsData of 27 patients treated for localized neuropathic pain with the 5% lidocaine medicated plaster were retrospectively analyzed. Assessment included changes in overall pain intensity, in intensity of different pain qualities, and of hyperalgesia and allodynia, and changes in sleep quality.ResultsPatients (17 female, ten male; mean age 53.4±11.4 years) presented mainly with dorsalgia (16 patients) or postoperative/posttraumatic pain (seven patients); one patient suffered from both. The mean overall pain intensity prior to treatment with lidocaine medicated plaster was 8.4±1.2 on the 11-point Likert scale. In the majority of cases, the lidocaine plaster was applied concomitantly with preexisting pain medication (81.5% of the patients). During the 6-month observation period, overall mean pain intensity was reduced by almost 5 points (4.98) to 3.5±2.6. Substantial reductions were also observed for neuralgiform pain (5 points from 7.9±2.6 at baseline) and burning pain (3 points from 5.2±4.1). Sleep quality improved from 4.6±2.6 at baseline to 5.5±1.8. Stratification by pain diagnosis showed marked improvements in overall pain intensity for patients with dorsalgia or postoperative/posttraumatic pain. The lidocaine plaster was well tolerated.ConclusionOverall, topical treatment with the 5% lidocaine medicated plaster was associated with effective pain relief and was well tolerated.

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