Chlorprothixene (taractan) in post-herpetic neuralgia and other severe chronic pains.
Two trials of chlorprothixene were carried out, mainly on patients with moderate to severe post-herpetic neuralgia. When the drug was given as 50 mg b.d. to outpatients, unpleasant side-effects were more important than slight effects in alleviating pain. When the drug was given as 50 mg 6 hourly to inpatients for 5 days only, there was alleviation of constant chronic pain in a third of the patients; the effect is still lasting over a period of months in a few patients. The side-effects during the course of treatment are prominent. It is concluded that the drug is worth trying in the course recommended by Farber and Burks [1] when other means of controlling postherpetic neuralgia have failed. It would be best to give the course only to inpatients.
D002749:Chlorprothixene / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D006562:Herpes Zoster / Q000150:complications*; D006801:Humans; D009437:Neuralgia / Q000188:drug therapy*; D010148:Intractable Pain / Q000188:drug therapy*; D010591:Phantom Limb / Q000188:drug therapy; D012019:Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy / Q000188:drug therapy; D013595:Syringomyelia / Q000188:drug therapy; D013788:Thalamus / Q000503:physiopathology
D002749:Chlorprothixene