[Iontophoresis in the treatment of pain].

The objective has been to verify the effectiveness of iontophoresis in alleviating conditions of pain by means of a computer-assisted search of the pertinent literature. The search was performed with the aid of the Medline database (1984 bis 1993) and reference lists (studies from 1954).

METHODS

all clinical trials performed with at least one control group as well as all experimental studies conducted within the same period. The selection criteria were met by 10 experimental and 15 clinical studies. The studies were categorized by substance group. The following groups of substances were applied (experimentally/clinically): local anaesthetics (0/6), non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (2/3), vinca-alkaloids (1/2), corticosteroids (3/1), morphine (0/1), iodide (4/1) and fluoride (0/1). Both short-term effects (lidocaine, procaine, flufenamic acid, morphine) and long-term effects (benzocaine-salicylamide, diclofenac, Mobilat, vinca-alkaloids, dexamethasone-lidocaine, iodide, fluoride) were studied. Comparisons were made against placebo iontophoresis (lidocaine, procaine, flufenamic acid, diclofenac, Mobilat, vinca-alkaloids, dexamethasone-lidocaine, morphine, fluoride), solely topical administration (procaine, benzocaine-salicylamide, flufenamic acid), placebo administration without current (procaine, flufenamic acid), and other methods (lidocaine, iodide). With one single exception (lidocaine), none of the studies included groups without treatment.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)