Pharmacogenetic Testing in Acute and Chronic Pain: A Preliminary Study

Medicina (Kaunas). 2019 May 16;55(5):147. doi: 10.3390/medicina55050147.

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Pain is one of the most common symptoms that weighs on life's quality and health expenditure. In a reality where increasingly personalized therapies are needed, the early use of genetic tests that highlights the individual response to analgesic drugs could be a valuable help in clinical practice. The aim of this preliminary study is to observe if the therapy set to 5 patients suffering of chronic or acute pain is concordant to the Pharmacogenetic test (PGT) results. Materials and Methods: This preliminary study compares the genetic results of pharmacological effectiveness and tolerability analyzed by the genetic test Neurofarmagen Analgesia, with the results obtained in clinical practice of 5 patients suffering from acute and chronic pain. Results: Regarding the genetic results of the 5 samples analyzed, 2 reports were found to be completely comparable with the evidences of the clinical practice, while in 3 reports the profile of tolerability and effectiveness were partially discordant. Conclusion: In light of the data not completely overlapping with results observed in clinical practice, further studies would be appropriate in order to acquire more information on the use of Neurofarmagen in routine clinical settings.

Keywords: adverse effects; analgesic; effectiveness; pain; pharmacogenetic testing; pharmacological therapy.

MeSH terms

  • Analgesics, Opioid / therapeutic use
  • Chronic Pain / drug therapy*
  • Chronic Pain / physiopathology
  • Genetic Testing / methods
  • Humans
  • Pain / drug therapy*
  • Pain / physiopathology
  • Pain Measurement / methods
  • Pharmacogenomic Testing / methods*
  • Pharmacogenomic Testing / statistics & numerical data

Substances

  • Analgesics, Opioid