Efficacy of the NMDA-receptor antagonist memantine in patients with chronic phantom limb pain–results of a randomized double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial

C Maier, R Dertwinkel, N Mansourian, I Hosbach… - Pain, 2003 - Elsevier
Phantom limb pain (PLP) associated neuroplastic changes are partly mediated by excitatory
amino acids at NMDA receptor sites. This study was undertaken to deduce if NMDA-receptor
antagonists may be effective in patients with chronic PLP. Therefore a four week double-
blinded, randomized placebo-controlled trial was performed to evaluate the efficacy of 30
mg memantine/day, an orally administrable NMDA receptor antagonist. Thirty-six patients,
18 per group, with a history of at least 12 months PLP and an average pain of at least 4 on …