Efficacité du patch de capsaïcine 8Â % Qutenza® sur les 26Â premiers patients traités au CHU de Besançon

A retrospective study on the first 26 patients treated by the capsaicin patch 8% (Qutenza®) between August 2011 and October 2012 has been conducted in the pain centre of Besancon hospital (France). The analysis was performed on 17 women (65%) and 9 men (34%) suffering from post surgery peripheral neuropathic pain (12 patients), post traumatic neuropathic pain (6 patients), post herpetic neuralgia (4 patients) and other types of neuropathic pain (4 patients). The study objective was the evaluation of the efficacy of this new and expected treatment, and the percentage of pain improvement 1 and a 1/2 months after the patch application. Patient mean age was 52 years old (24 to 83 years old), mean pain duration was 3 years (2 months to 10 years). Mean pain intensity (numerical scale) was 6.6/10 before the patch application and decreased to 2.4, 1 and a 1/2 months after the application representing a global pain improvement of 36%. Among the 26 patients included, 15 (57%) were improved: 12 patients (46%) reported an improvement > 50% and 3 patients an improvement between 30 and 50%. Eleven (42%) patients reported no change. Half of the patients experienced pain during the patch application. These first results encourage us to continue the use of this new treatment in the pain centre.