Patent ID: 6559186
Filing Date: 2003-05-06
Classification: A61K,A61P

Abstract:
A method of treating sympathetically maintained pain in peripheral tissues comprising topically administering to a patient having sympathetically maintained pain at a peripheral site where the pain originates, wherein the sympathetically maintained pain can be diagnosed by local anesthetic blockade of the appropriate sympathetic ganglion or adrenergic blockade via intravenous administration of phentolamine, and rekindled by intradermal injection of norepinephrine, an effective amount of a compound other than guanethidine that depletes norepinephrine or blocks synthesis or release of norepinephrine at the sympathetic terminals in a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier for topical application selected from the group consisting of a lotion, ointment, solution, and transdermal patch to cause measurable relief from the sympathetically maintained pain.