Efficacy of intravenous alpha lipoic acid in the treatment of neuropatic pain due to carpal tunnel syndrome.

Background and purpose:

In this study, we analyzed the effect of oral and oral + intravenous Alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) treatment on pain level and physical examination findings in patients diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS).

A total of 115 patients patricipa­ted in the study. Physiotherapy and wrist splint were first applied to all patients diag­nosed with CTS in the study. 40 patients were treated with oral ALA after iv. ALA the­rapy, 35 patients received only oral ALA treatment and 40 patients did not receive any medication. The patients were divided into 3 groups as those who received only splint treatment and physiotherapy, those who received oral ALA treatment, and those who received oral ALA treatment after iv. treat­ment. All patients were assessed be­fore the treatment, and at the 1st and 3rd months of the treatment. In clinical assessment, visual analog scale (VAS) forms were filled to define the pain severity, the Boston symptom severity scale (BSSS) and Boston functional status scale (BFDS) were filled for evaluating symptoms and functional status. 

VAS, BSSS and BFDS scores of the patients who were treated with intravenous and then oral ALA were found to be significantly lower at the end of both the 1st and 3rd months compared to the patients who received only oral ALA or no medication (p=0.001; p<0.001), (p=0.001; p<0.001), (p=0.006; p<0.001).

We think that iv. ALA is effective in the treatment of symptoms associated with CTS.