BACKGROUND: OBJECTIVES: SEARCH STRATEGY: Randomised trials of anticonvulsants in acute, chronic or cancer pain were identified by Medline (1966-1999), Embase (1994-1999), SIGLE (1980-1999) and the Cochrane Controlled Trials Register (CENTRAL/CCTR) (Cochrane Library Issue 3, 1999). In addition, 40 medical journals were hand searched. Additional reports were identified from the reference list of the retrieved papers, and by contacting investigators. Date of most recent search: September 1999. SELECTION CRITERIA: DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Data were extracted by two independent reviewers, and trials were quality scored. Numbers-needed-to-treat (NNTs) were calculated from dichotomous data for effectiveness, adverse effects and drug-related study withdrawal, for individual studies and for pooled data. MAIN RESULTS: REVIEWER'S CONCLUSIONS:
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