[Case of acute exacerbation of neuropathic cancer pain rapidly relieved by simultaneous oral intake of immediate release oxycodone and pregabalin].

Cancer pain consists of continuous pain lasting almost all day and transient exacerbation of pain called breakthrough pain. Breakthrough pain is classified as somatic pain and visceral pain, neuropathic pain according to the character of pain. Although the immediate release opioid is used as the first treatment of choice to breakthrough pain, the effect is not enough when it shows the character of neuropathic pain. Pregabalin has become the first medicine for the treatment of neuropathic pain, and it sometimes reveals prompt analgesic effect based on its pharmacological profile. It has also been reported that pregabalin used with oxycodine reveals analgesic effect with smaller dosage than pregabalin alone. We experienced a young patient with lung cancer suffering from sudden exacerbation of symptomatic sciatica, whose pain was markedly reduced within 30 minutes by taking immediate release oxycodone 5 mg and pregabalin 75 mg simultaneously. Conclusions : Pregabalin with immediate release oxycodone simultaneously may be able to improve acute exacerbation of neuropathic cancer pain rapidly.