| Study characteristics |
| Methods |
Parallel
Placebo capsule; Active ‐ gabapentin
Oxford Quality Score: 5 |
| Participants |
75 (67 evaluable); breast cancer undergoing mastectomy or lumpectomy with axillary node dissection |
| Interventions |
Mexiletine 600 mg po/day, gabapentin 1200 mg po/day, or placebo divided in three equal doses, x 10 days |
| Outcomes |
Three months postmastectomy: the incidence of postmastectomy pain did not differ among groups (45% with mexiletine, 54% for gabapentin, and 58% for placebo). The burning‐type of pain was significantly more frequent in patients treated with placebo (7/24), compared to those who took mexiletine (1/20), or gabapentin (1/22) (P=0.033, Fisher exact test) |
| Notes |
Adverse events (n/N) ‐ nature; withdrawals:
Mexiletine: 1/21 ‐ n/v
Gabapentin: 0/22
Placebo: 0/24 |
| Risk of bias |
| Bias |
Authors' judgement |
Support for judgement |
| Allocation concealment (selection bias) |
Low risk |
A ‐ Adequate |
