Chlorprothixene (taractan) in post-herpetic neuralgia and other severe chronic pains

Pain. 1978 Dec;5(4):367-371. doi: 10.1016/0304-3959(78)90005-2.

Abstract

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.

Publication types

  • Clinical Trial
  • Controlled Clinical Trial

MeSH terms

  • Chlorprothixene / adverse effects
  • Chlorprothixene / therapeutic use*
  • Clinical Trials as Topic
  • Dose-Response Relationship, Drug
  • Double-Blind Method
  • Herpes Zoster / complications*
  • Humans
  • Neuralgia / drug therapy*
  • Pain, Intractable / drug therapy*
  • Phantom Limb / drug therapy
  • Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy / drug therapy
  • Syringomyelia / drug therapy
  • Thalamus / physiopathology

Substances

  • Chlorprothixene