Case study of patient on Sitaxsentan, a selective endothelin-A antagonist used in pulmonary hypertension, found his sciatica got better while on the drug and worse when off.
Am J Med. 2010 Mar;123(3):e7.
Relief of Chronic Neuropathic Pain through Endothelin Antagonism.
Murphy DM, O’Callaghan DS, Gaine SP. no abstract
- Sitaxsentin is used for pulmonary hypertension:
abstract here - Subject in this case was put on 100 mg Sitaxsentan/day.
- “he had experienced a substantial improvement in his sciatica, allowing discontinuation of analgesia. On questioning, pain scores were reduced from 8/10 to 2/10. Unfortunately, 4 months later, despite improvement in his pulmonary arterial,
his sitaxsentan was discontinued due to hepatic dysfunction. He reported a prompt return of his sciatica following cessation of endothelin-A antagonist therapy.”
Comment – this could be a useful treatment except for the fact not covered by our drug plan, and the liver dysfunction it can cause. There was an advisory concerning such here