Seizures associated with low-dose tramadol for chronic pain treatment

The management of cancer pain still poses a major challenge for clinicians. Tramadol is a centrally acting synthetic opioid analgesic. Its well-known side effects include nausea, vomiting, and dizziness; seizures are a rare side effect. Some reports have found that tramadol triggers seizure activity at high doses, whereas a few preclinical studies have found that this seizure activity is not dose-related. We herein present a case involving a patient with laryngeal cancer who developed seizures while on low-dose oral tramadol.