Full Text: Findings from a pilot study suggest that breast cancer patients affected by tamoxifen-induced hot flashes may obtain significant relief with gabapentin, a common antiseizure agent, according to a presentation at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

"Our expectation is that approximately 200,000 new cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed in the U.S. in 2002. Of those patients, half will probably be treated with a drug like tamoxifen, and hot flashes are the most bothersome side effect of that treatment," says Kishan J. Pandya, M.D., principal investigator of the study.

"So if you went through menopause and survived hot flashes at age 52 [years], and then were diagnosed with breast cancer at 60 and prescribed tamoxifen, you would start all over again," Pandya says.

The first article on gabapentin and hot flashes was a case report based on data from six patients that was published in the August 2000 issue of the journal Neurology. The current work was begun as follow-up: The American investigators studied 19 women who were receiving tamoxifen therapy and who were experiencing at least one hot flash a day. Of the 19 patients, 16 women completed the four-week study taking gabapentin three times daily. Of those patients, 14 showed a 70-percent reduction in the duration of their hot flashes and a 50-percent reduction in severity and 3 reported complete elimination of symptoms.

Gabapentin has been approved for treatment of epileptic seizures, but doctors also prescribe it for migraines and certain anxiety disorders. In the current study, gabapentin was well tolerated except for mild dizziness and drowsiness.

A placebo-controlled trial has enrolled 200 women and will test two dosages of gabapentin and an oral placebo; it is expected to end late in 2002