THE USE OF DICLOFENAC ORPHENADRINE INFUSIONS IN MUSCULOSKELETAL DISEASES AND DYSFUNCTION - OBSERVATIONS IN PATIENTS/

During a post-marketing surveillance study, 641 patients (age range 18 to 86 years) with painful rheumatic diseases, mostly of vertebral eti ology, were given ready-for-use infusions containing a combination of the non-steroid antiphlogistic agent diclofenac (75 mg) and the muscle relaxing agent orphenadrine (30 mg) parenterally for 7 days. The goal of the study was to investigate efficacy, tolerability, and acceptanc e of this intravenous therapy in wide use in physicans' practices. At the end of treatment, the global evaluation resulted in a score of 1.6 on a scale of 1 (very good) to 4 (insufficient). The tolerability sco re was 1.3 and the acceptability score was 1.5. Only 20 patients (3.1% ) had adverse effects, most of which were of gastrointestinal nature. The medication proved appropriate for use in the treatment of painful spine syndromes, inflammatory osteoarthritis, painful osteoporosis, po st-operative conditions, and extra-articular rheumatism and could repr esent a first step towards multi-factorial therapeutic management of t hese diseases.