Scant data on seizure drugs for women's genital pain

By Kerry Grens

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Although doctors sometimes prescribe anti-seizure drugs to treat chronic pain in the vulva, just a handful of low-quality studies have examined the drugs' effects, according to a new review.

Based on these studies, "it's very difficult to make definitive statements on efficacy," said Dr. Raphael Leo, the study's author from the State University of New York at Buffalo. "Certainly, more investigation is warranted."

Still, "I think that there is promise" for the use of anti-seizure medications, he added.

Chronic pain in a woman's genitals, also called vulvodynia, affects as many as one in 12 women (see Reuters Health report of Sept 23, 2011 here: http://reut.rs/oeJRax).

The underlying cause of the pain is not always known, so doctors often try a variety of treatment approaches to see what will work.

Those include topical creams to reduce pain, physical therapy, antidepressants and - in extreme cases - surgery to remove the painful tissue.

Anti-seizure medications, such as gabapentin (marketed as Neurontin), are also used to treat vulvodynia. One survey found up to two-thirds of doctors prescribe gabapentin for the condition.

"Unfortunately, there hasn't been much systematic investigation of an appropriate means of treatment," Leo told Reuters Health.

To see whether research supports the use of anti-seizure drugs, he collected the results of all studies testing these medications on women with the pain disorder.

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Scant data on seizure drugs for women's genital pain