New York – A new study suggests many cancer patients prefer the antidepressant venlafaxine to the epilepsy medicine gabapentin (Neurontin) in the treatment of hot flashes. As reported by Reuters, researchers found in a study of female cancer patients dealing with hot flashes, that most chose the antidepressant despite it having relatively the same effectiveness and safety level as gabapentin.
Dr. Charles Loprinzi, a breast cancer researcher at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, who worked on the study, is quoted in the report as stating of the findings, “For some people, venlafaxine works better than gabapentin and for others, gabapentin works better… The patients in the end preferred venlafaxine by two-thirds to one-third.”
More information about the study may be available in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
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