NCT00886106

The Effect of High-dose Remifentanil on Established Capsaicin-induced Hyperalgesia in Human Volunteers

• Status: Unknown
• Phase: Phase 4
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 24 (estimated)
• Sponsor: Medical University of Vienna · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 19 Years – 40 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

Treatment of chronic pain is a major clinical challenge since chronic pain is frequent and leads to deterioration of quality of life. An injury or wound can lead to long term changes in the nervous system that make the skin more sensitive at and near the injury; this is termed hyperalgesia and occurs through long term depotentiation (LTP), i.e., a change in the synaptic interaction between neurons. Opioids are the gold standard for the symptomatic therapy of moderate to severe pain. Now, in animal studies the investigators have discovered previously unrecognized effects of opioids. Intradermal injection of capsaicin (injection of pepper extract into the skin) is an established pain model in humans. The investigators want to test the influence of remifentanil, an ultra-short acting opioid, on hyperalgesia observed after intradermal capsaicin in human volunteers in a double blind cross-over prospective active placebo controlled clinical trial.

Conditions

• Hyperalgesia

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
DRUG	Remifentanil	Remifentanil (Ultiva®; Glaxo-Smith-Kline; Vienna, Austria) will be applied intravenously during 60 minutes through a dedicated infusion pump (TCI Alaris PK Syringe Pump, Cardinal Health, Baesweiler, Germany), with a Target Controlled Infusion (following the integrated software algorithm by Minto), reaching the initial 18ng/ml plasma concentration in 180 seconds. This corresponds to circa 0.7 µg kg-1 min-1
DRUG	Midazolam	Midazolam (Dormicum®; Roche; Vienna, Austria) will be applied intravenously as active placebo at a dose of 15 µg kg-1 min-1 over 5 minutes to mimic typical central nervous side effects of remifentanil

Timeline

• Start date: 2009-06-01
• Primary completion: 2009-12-01
• Completion: 2010-03-01
• First posted: 2009-04-22
• Last updated: 2009-11-18

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Austria