Two Patients Experience Same-Day Analgesic Effect of Methadone on Trigeminal Neuralgia Secondary to Malignancy: A Case Report

Hannah Bromberg; Ann Guastella; Meghan Haas; Reem Akel; David Craig

doi:10.1089/jpm.2022.0436

Two Patients Experience Same-Day Analgesic Effect of Methadone on Trigeminal Neuralgia Secondary to Malignancy: A Case Report

J Palliat Med. 2023 Jul;26(7):1024-1026. doi: 10.1089/jpm.2022.0436. Epub 2023 Jan 12.

Authors

Hannah Bromberg¹, Ann Guastella¹, Meghan Haas¹, Reem Akel^{1

2}, David Craig¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Supportive Care, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, Tampa, Florida, USA.
² Department of Graduate Medical Education, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA.

PMID: 36633599
DOI: 10.1089/jpm.2022.0436

Abstract

Trigeminal neuralgia (TN) secondary to malignancy leads to significant distress and subsequently impacts a patient's quality of life. Use of methadone as a first-line opioid analgesic in this subset of oncology patients is uncommon and is rarely initiated after traditional first-line therapies have failed. We report two patients with TN secondary to tumor burden who experienced significant analgesia within 24 hours of methadone initiation.

Keywords: case report; methadone; oncology; trigeminal neuralgia.

Publication types

Case Reports

MeSH terms

Analgesics, Opioid / therapeutic use
Humans
Methadone / therapeutic use
Neoplasms* / complications
Quality of Life
Treatment Outcome
Trigeminal Neuralgia* / drug therapy
Trigeminal Neuralgia* / etiology

Substances

Methadone
Analgesics, Opioid