Abstract

Antiepileptics find use for indications other than epilepsy, often as analgesics for neuropathic pain. Surprisingly, gabapentin has now been compared with placebo in a trial of 420 women with breast cancer who were having two or more hot flushes a day. A dose of 900 mg a day worked best, reducing the frequency of hot flushes by 26% and their severity by 30%, relative to placebo. Ten women taking this dose withdrew from the study because of adverse effects – tiredness was the commonest symptom. Fortunately, neurologists will not be called upon to decide which of the many drugs available for hot flushes should be used.

Lancet2005; 366, 818–24.

The final results of the International Subarachnoid Aneurysm Trial show that at one year, about 140 patients avoided death or disability for every 1000 patients with ruptured aneurysms treated with endovascular coiling compared with surgical clipping ( Lancet2005; 366