From: The role of vitamin C in the treatment of pain: new insights
Study type | Intervention | Findings |
---|---|---|
Placebo controlled RCT | ||
 Laparoscopic colectomy—for colon cancer [97] | i. Placebo (N = 48) | i. 16 mg morphine at 2 h, frequency of rescue analgesia: 1.4 |
ii. 50 mg IV vitamin C/kg body weight (N = 49) prior to surgery | ii. 14 mg morphine at 2 h*, frequency of rescue analgesia: 0.8*, ↓ pain at 2, 6, 24 h (NRS)* | |
 Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty with tonsillectomy [98] | i. Placebo (N = 20) | i. 46 mg pethidine, first dose at 3 h, number of requests: 1.3 |
ii. 3 g IV vitamin C (N = 20) 30 min into surgery | ii. 6 mg pethidine*, first dose at 12 h*, number of requests: 0.2*, ↓ pain at 6, 12, 24 h (VAS)* | |
 Cholecystectomy [99] | i. Placebo (N = 40) | i. 23 mg morphine |
ii. 2Â g oral vitamin C (NÂ =Â 40) prior to surgery | ii. 16Â mg morphine* (at 24Â h follow up) | |
Uncontrolled prospective | ||
 Range of malignancies [96] | 2 g oral vitamin C (N = 17) for 3 days | Before: 360 mg/day opioids After: 390 mg/day opioids |
Controlled retrospective | ||
 Terminal cancer [82] | i. Control (N = 19) | i. 79% required narcotics |
ii. 0.5–3 g/day oral vitamin C (N = 6) | ii. 50% required narcotics | |
iii. 5–30 g/day oral vitamin C (N = 6) | iii. 17% required narcotics | |
Case report | ||
 Intolerable fibrosarcoma-related pain [81] | 10 g/day vitamin C for 19 days | Better control of pain by opiates |
 Breast cancer with skeletal metastases—severe pain [81] | 5 g/day IV vitamin C for 7 days | No further need for opiates (from day 4) |
8Â g/day oral vitamin C for 70Â days | ||
 Bladder cancer with skeletal metastases—intense pain inadequately controlled by morphine [81] | 10 g/day IV vitamin C for 10 days | No further need for opiates |
10Â g/day oral vitamin C for 24Â days |