• Seiji Ohtori, Gen Inoue, Sumihisa Orita, Masashi Takaso, Yawara Eguchi, Nobuyasu Ochiai, Shunji Kishida, Kazuki Kuniyoshi, Yasuchika Aoki, Tetsuhiro Ishikawa, Masayuki Miyagi, Hiroto Kamoda, Miyako Suzkuki, Junichi Nakamura, Gou Kubota, Yoshihiro Sakuma, Yasuhiro Oikawa, Tomoaki Toyone, Kazuhide Inage, Takeshi Sainoh, Kazuyo Yamauchi, and Kazuhisa Takahashi.
• Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, 1-8-1 Inohana, Chuo-ku, Chiba 260-8670, Japan. sohtori@faculty.chiba-u.jp
• Yonsei Med. J. 2013 Sep 1; 54 (5): 1253-8.

PurposeOsteoarthritic pain is largely considered to be inflammatory pain. Sensory nerve fibers innervating the knee have been shown to be significantly damaged in rat models of knee osteoarthritis (OA) in which the subchondral bone junction is destroyed, and this induces neuropathic pain (NP). Pregabalin was developed as a pain killer for NP; however, there are no reports on pregabalin use in OA patients. The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of pregabalin for pain in OA patients.Materials And MethodsEighty-nine knee OA patients were evaluated in this randomized prospective study. Patients were divided into meloxicam, pregabalin, and meloxicam+pregabalin groups. Pain scores were evaluated before and 4 weeks after drug application using a visual analogue scale (VAS), and Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC). Pain scales among groups were compared using a Kruskal-Wallis test.ResultsBefore drug application, there was no significant difference in VAS and WOMAC scores among the three groups (p>0.05). Significant pain relief was seen in the meloxicam+pregabalin group in VAS at 1, 2, and 4 weeks, and WOMAC score at 4 weeks, compared with the other groups (p<0.05). No significant pain relief was seen in the meloxicam only group in VAS during 4 weeks and WOMAC score at 4 weeks compared with the pregabalin only group (p>0.05).ConclusionMeloxicam+pregabalin was effective for pain in OA patients. This finding suggests that OA pain is a combination of inflammatory and NP.

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