• Palliat Support Care · Dec 2007

    Review Case Reports

    Detection and treatment of akathisia in advanced cancer patients during adjuvant analgesic therapy with tricyclic antidepressants: case reports and review of the literature.

    • Hideki Onishi, Wataru Yamamoto, Makoto Wada, Tomomi Nishida, Mei Wada, Yu Sunagawa, Toshimichi Miya, Chiaki Kawanishi, Masaru Narabayashi, and Yasutsuna Sasaki.
    • Department of Psycho-Oncology, Saitama Medical University, Saitama, Iruma, Japan. honishi@saitama-med.ac.jp
    • Palliat Support Care. 2007 Dec 1; 5 (4): 411-4.

    ObjectiveThere is substantial evidence that tricyclic antidepressants are effective in the management of chronic pain, including cancer pain. In oncological settings, these agents are used as adjuvant analgesic drugs. However, cases of akathisia due to tricyclic antidepressants used as adjuvant analgesic therapy have not previously been reported.Case ReportsTwo cancer patients experiencing chronic pain who were refractory to nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and opioids were prescribed amoxapine as an adjuvant analgesic therapy for neuropathic pain. These patients developed inner restlessness and restless physical movements after amoxapine was prescribed. Although symptoms were atypical, akathisia was suspected and discontinuation of amoxapine resolved the symptoms.Results And Significance Of ResultsAkathisia should be considered in patients receiving adjuvant analgesic therapy with tricyclic antidepressants. Early detection and appropriate treatment will relieve this distressing symptom. Restless movements involving parts of the body other than the legs may be the clue to the diagnosis.

      Pubmed     Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…