N-acetylcysteine (NAC) as treatment for complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS): 2022 Update

WorkSafeBC Evidence-Based Practice Group, Martin CW
Record ID 32018004201
English
Authors' objectives: This current update seeks to review the literature from the last update in 2018 in order to determine if N-acetylcysteine can be used in the treatment of patients with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome.
Authors' results and conclusions: There are no new published studies that are relevant to this systematic review. As reported in the original 2018 systematic review, there is some evidence, coming from a small-medium size low quality RCT on the effectiveness of free radical scavengers, including DMSO and NAC, in treating CRPS Type 1 patients. However, due to the low quality of the primary study, and the unaccounted effect(s) of the co-intervention(s) administered to the patients in this study, the evidence should be interpreted with caution. In this update, no additional studies were included as confirmed by two new systematic reviews. Therefore, there is no change to the conclusions of the 2018 systematic review.
Authors' methods: A systematic literature search was conducted on commercial medical literature databases on June 9, 2022. The search was undertaken by employing combinations of keywords (full search strategies seen in Appendix 2). No limitations on date of publication were implemented in any of these searches. A manual search was also conducted on the references of the articles that were retrieved in full.
Details
Project Status: Completed
Year Published: 2022
English language abstract: An English language summary is available
Publication Type: Mini HTA
Country: Canada
MeSH Terms
  • Acetylcysteine
  • Complex Regional Pain Syndromes
  • Antioxidants
  • Pain
Keywords
  • N-acetylcysteine
  • complex regional pain syndrome (including variance of N-acetylcysteine and CRPS; for complete keywords see appendix)
Contact
Organisation Name: WorkSafeBC
Contact Address: 6591 Westminster Highway, Richmond, BC, V7C 1C6 Canada. Tel: 604-231-8417; Fax: 604-279-7698
Contact Name: ebpg@worksafebc.com
Contact Email: ebpg@worksafebc.com
Copyright: WorkSafe BC
This is a bibliographic record of a published health technology assessment from a member of INAHTA or other HTA producer. No evaluation of the quality of this assessment has been made for the HTA database.