Sciatica, a musculoskeletal condition is a common cause of disability
and early deaths, affecting millions of people globally. The aim of the
study was to evaluate efficacy of different drug combinations for
treatment of acute sciatica. It is a single-center, clinical trial with
three arms, registered at Clinicaltrials.gov; (NCT05626140). Adults from
18-70 years of age were enrolled (n=130). Patients were placed in three
groups each i.e. 40 in diclofenac plus placebo group, 40 in codeine plus
diclofenac group and 40 in lacosamide plus diclofenac group and followed
up for 15 days for change in mean pain scores using Visual Analog Scale
(VAS). Pairwise comparison assessed change from baseline in mean pain
scores. The VAS mean pain scores with combination of lacosamide and
diclofenac showed significant decrease from 7.785cm to 1.115cm. Codeine
with diclofenac displayed a lesser decline of 7.43cm to 2.71cm while
diclofenac monotherapy exhibited the least change from 7.50cm to 3.45cm.
P value was significant (p < 0.001) for 10th and 15th day of
follow up. Adequate analgesia was attained in all the three arms. In
conclusion, combination of lacosamide with diclofenac showed clinical
superiority in relieving symptoms of acute sciatica compared with
diclofenac plus codeine or diclofenac monotherapy.
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