Radiculopathy is a condition of pain, tingling, numbness, and weakness among the nerves of the spine, especially in the areas of lower back and neck. To counter this neuropathic pain, Capsaicin 8% patch is one of the best treatment, and this can be utterly observed through this study results.   

The treatment of neuropathic pain caused due to low-back (lumbosacral) radiculopathies, is challenging and it often requires a multimodal therapeutic approach. The 8% capsaicin patch is the first topical analgesic approved for peripheral neuropathic pain. To evaluate its efficacy, a subset of patients with painful radiculopathy (cervical and lumbar, including ventral and dorsal rami) enrolled into the multicenter, non-interventional QUEPP study (Qutenza2 – safety and effectiveness in peripheral neuropathic pain) were analysed.

Out of the 1044 study participants, 50 were diagnosed with painful radiculopathy as only peripheral neuropathic pain syndrome and were eligible for the evaluation. Patients received a single treatment (visit 1) and follow-up visits 2–5 at weeks 1–2, 4, 8 and 12. Parameters assessed at all visits included pain intensity, neuropathy symptoms, and side effects. Quality of life (SF-12) and pain DETECT1 questionnaires were completed at baseline and final visit. Data were analyzed by monitoring the patch application site and duration of pain.

Topical application led to a significant decrease in the pain intensity between weeks 1/2 and week 12 versus baseline at the application sites representing dermatomes of ventral (N = 26) and dorsal rami (N = 13) of spinal nerves. A significant decline (p ≤ .001) of numeric pain rating scale scores was observed between weeks 1/2 following patch application and the end of observation (week 12) in the overall radiculopathy group (N = 50), and the groups with either 3 months to 2 years (N = 14) or >2 years (N = 23) duration of pain. Pain relief of at least 30% was observed in 50.0%, 71.4% and 39.1% of patients in the respective groups. Four patients experienced in total seven adverse drug reactions (application site pain or pruritus).

Effective neuropathic pain relief was observed after patch application within the innervation territories of both dorsal and ventral branches of the spinal nerve. Further controlled randomized trials are indicated.