Pharmacological Targeting of Sodium and Calcium Channels as a Therapeutic Approach for Chronic Pain Relief
Authors: Ali Anwar , Shuaib Faiza , Amanullah  , Khan Imran , Khan Munazza , Badar Adnan 
Published: November 2024

Background: It is determined that chronic pain is a common, worsening health issue that reduces patient’s quality of life and is a huge strain on health systems. Sodium and calcium channels are key for the process of transferring pain signals. Pharmacological targeting of these ion channels has been identified as a potential and efficient long-term therapy of chronic pain in the absence of non-specific side effects of traditional analgesics.Objectives: In a clinical trial, to determine the effectiveness of the drugs, selective sodium and calcium channel blockers in the management of chronic pain symptoms by comparing patients’ pain scores and the number of effectively treated patients over time.Study design: A Double-blind, randomized, controlled trialPlace and duration of the Study: Department of Biochemistry, Saidu Medical College, Saidu Sharif Swat KP – Pakistan from March 2022 to March 2023.Methodology: The effect of sodium and calcium channel blockers was examined in a double-blind, randomized comparison study of 150 patients in a chronic pain clinic. Subjects rated their pain using an anchored pain intensity scale at baseline, two weeks, and four weeks. In analyzing the results, the use of mean, standard deviation and P-value were used whereby the P value used to test hypotheses in an experiment is the probability of obtaining the observed results. Hypothesis derived parameters included; the primary end point being pain score reduction, and the secondary end points including functional changes and side effects respectively.Results: In 150 patients these three groups recognized 23 percent achieving reasonable pain heading for sodium and calcium channel blockers who achieved extra pain cut off the placebo mean pain heading of 7.3 ±1.5 SD reducing to mean pain heading of 3.8 ±1.2 SD in the same patients. Actual placebo group demonstrate a slight improvement (mean change from 7.4 to 6.8). Analysis of the data by the G * Power software showed that the effect size was highly statistically significant, with a p-value = < 0.001. Hundred percent increase in the functional scores for the treatment group, but the adverse effects were reported to be less and were comparable with that of the placebo group. These results suggest that selective sodium and calcium channel blockade can attenuate neuropathic pain.Conclusion: This class of drugs has a substantial potential and does not trigger such severe side effects as constant use of traditional analgesics does for relieving chronic pain. The present work provides evidence that ion channel modulation can be used for chronic pain management, which should be further investigated and considered for implementation into therapeutic pain paradigms.Conclusion: Results indicate that G6PD deficiency is a leading cause of neonatal jaundice, particularly in populations at higher risk due to genetic factors. Early diagnosis and treatment significantly improve outcomes, though complications such as kernicterus remain a risk in severe cases.