Pentoxifylline's Theoretical Efficacy in the Treatment of Fibromyalgia Syndrome

Abstract

To the Editor: Fibromyalgia is a syndrome characterized by chronic, widespread pain in combination with tenderness to palpation at specific tender point sites on the body, in the absence of otherwise apparent organic disease [1]. Given the unclear etiology of fibromyalgia, and the heterogeneous presentations of the disease, it has become clear that no one therapy is broadly efficacious. Drugs known to attenuate glial activation and secretion of proinflammatory cytokines such as naltrexone have already been tested and found efficient in the reduction of fibromyalgia symptoms [2]. Glial cell activation and subsequent secretion of cytokines constitute one of the theories underlying fibromyalgia syndrome. Glial cells, long …