However , mirtazapine showed effectiveness in treating depression , anxiety , sleep disorders , emesis and neuropathic pain .
Across all studies , mirtazapine is safe to use , with drowsiness and dizziness the most common side-effects .
Cancer patients often experience multiple distressing symptoms which are challenging to manage .
It would therefore be helpful to find a treatment that alleviates more than one symptom , to avoid polypharmacy : mirtazapine has been used in several studies for this purpose .
The objective of this study was to assess the effectiveness and safety of mirtazapine in alleviating one or more frequently encountered cancer-related symptoms .
Mirtazapine improves sleep and lowers anxiety and depression in cancer patients: superiority over imipramine
Goals of the workThis study aim ed to compare the effectiveness of mirtazapine and imipramine on not only the distressing symptoms of cancer patients such as pain , nausea , vomiting , appetite loss , and sleep disturbances  but also depressive and anxiety symptoms .  Material s and methods Fifty-three patients with cancer who were diagnosed with major depressive disorder , anxiety disorder , or adjustment disorder were included . Twenty patients on mirtazapine , 13 patients on imipramine , and 20 patients in the control group without medication were interviewed during three visits ( baseline , third week , and sixth week ) . Pain , nausea , vomiting , appetite loss , and sleep disturbances were evaluated with self- assessment single-symptom scales during each visit . The patients were also asked to complete the Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale ( HADS ) during each visit . Main results There were no significant differences among the three visits in the mirtazapine , imipramine , or control groups in terms of pain , nausea , vomiting , or appetite loss . For the initial , middle , and late insomnia , only the mirtazapine group showed improvements ( p = 0.001 , p = 0.001 , p = 0.003 ) . There were also significant differences in the mean total ( p = 0.03 ) , anxiety ( p = 0.003 ) , and depression ( p = 0.025 ) scores of HADS among the three visits for patients taking mirtazapine . There were no significant differences for HADS scores from the baseline to the end point for patients taking imipramine or control group patients . Conclusion Our findings suggest that mirtazapine is effective for resolving insomnia as well as anxiety and depressive symptoms in cancer patients . However , more systematic research , such as placebo-controlled studies , is needed
However , mirtazapine showed effectiveness in treating depression , anxiety , sleep disorders , emesis and neuropathic pain .
Across all studies , mirtazapine is safe to use , with drowsiness and dizziness the most common side-effects .
Cancer patients often experience multiple distressing symptoms which are challenging to manage .
It would therefore be helpful to find a treatment that alleviates more than one symptom , to avoid polypharmacy : mirtazapine has been used in several studies for this purpose .
The objective of this study was to assess the effectiveness and safety of mirtazapine in alleviating one or more frequently encountered cancer-related symptoms .