Antidepressants in Spine Surgery: A Systematic Review to Determine Benefits and Risks.

Antidepressants in Spine Surgery: A Systematic Review to Determine Benefits and Risks. Asian Spine J. 2019 Aug 20;: Authors: Bayoumi AB, Ikizgul O, Karaali CN, Bozkurt S, Konya D, Toktas ZO Abstract Antidepressant drugs can be advantageous in treating psychiatric and non-psychiatric illnesses, including spinal disorders. However, spine surgeons remain unfamiliar with the advantages and disadvantages of the use of antidepressant drugs as a part of the medical management of diseases of the spine. Our review article describes a systematic method using the PubMed/Medline database with a specific set of keywords to identify such benefits and drawbacks based on 17 original relevant articles published between January 2000 and February 2018; this provides the community of spine surgeons with available cumulative evidence contained within two tables illustrating both observational (10 studies; three cross-sectional, three case-control, and four cohort studies) and interventional (seven randomized clinical trials) studies. While tricyclic antidepressants (e.g., amitriptyline) and duloxetine can be effective in the treatment of neuropathic pain caused by root compression, venlafaxine may be more appropriate for patients with spinal cord injury presenting with depression and/or nociceptive pain. Despite the potential associated consequences of a prolonged hospital stay, higher cost, and controversial reports regarding the lowering of bone minera...
Source: Asian Spine Journal - Category: Orthopaedics Tags: Asian Spine J Source Type: research