Objective To compare the effect of different doses of compound betamethasone intradermal block on post-herpetic neuralgia (PHN) in elderly patients. Methods Between June 2013 and December 2014, 96 elderly patients who matched the criteria of PHN were chosen and randomly divided into saline control group (group C), compound betamethasone 0.5 mL group (group B0.5) and compound betamethasone 1.0 mL group (group B1.0). For the control group, 20 mL analgesic saline liquid including 5 mL of 2% lidocaine was used. And 0.5 and 1.0 mL compound betamethasone was added into the solution of group C to get the solution for group B0.5 and group B1.0, respectively. The patients got intracutaneous injection once in the affected area on the day 1, 8, and 15 respectively, and patients in the same group were injected the same solution of analgesic liquid. All the patients took the same medicine during treatment. Their visual analog scale (VAS) scores, quality of sleep (QS) scores and adverse events before treatment (T0), at discharging from the hospital (T1), and three months after discharging (T2) were carefully noted and analyzed. Results The VAS and QS scores of the three groups at T1 and T2 improved significantly compared with those at T0 (P < 0.05). The VAS and QS scores of group B0.5 and group B1.0 improved significantly more compared with group C (P < 0.05), and the difference of VAS and QS scores between group B0.5 and group B1.0 was not statistically insignificant (P > 0.05). Conclusions Adding 0.5 mL or 1 mL of compound betamethasone to the 20 mL analgesic liquid for intradermal block treatment on PHN can obviously release patients’ pain and improve their sleep quality. Compared with 1 mL, adding 0.5 mL compound betamethasone to the 20 mL analgesic liquid for intradermal block treatment on PHN is a more ideal dose.
Objective To investigate the general state, psychologic status and health related quality of life (HRQOL) in patients with post-herpetic neuralgia (PHN), and explore the influencing factors on HRQOL and their major and minor relationship. Methods From August 2014 to August 2015, a questionnaire survey was conducted to patients with PHN. The data of the patients’ general situation was colleted, the psychologic status was assessed by Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS), and the HRQOL of the patients was assessed by 36-item Short Form Survey. One-way ANOVA and stepwise regression analysis were used to analyze the influencing factors of HRQOL. Results A total of 177 questionnaires were issued, and 158 were recovered with a response rate of 89.3%. The average score of HRQOL of the 158 patients was 513.67±119.79, and the average score of SDS was 43.65±11.34. SDS scores showed no depression in 41 patients (25.9%), mild depression in 47 (29.7%), moderate depression in 39 (24.8%), and severe depression in 31 (19.6%). Whether receiving regular treatment, course of PHN, SDS score, physical exercise, sleep time and age were the main influencing factors of HRQOL. Conclusions Most patients with PHN suffer from depressive symptoms with poor HRQOL scores. Receiving early treatment with integrated traditional Chinese and western medicine, strengthening exercise, ensuring adequate sleep and receiving psychological counseling can significantly improve the HRQOL of PHN patients.
ObjectiveTo systematically review the efficacy and safety of fire needle in the treatment of post-herpetic neuralgia. MethodsPubMed, EMbase, The Cochrane Library, CNKI, WanFang Data, VIP, and CBM databases were electronically searched to collect randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of fire needle for post-herpetic neuralgia from inception to June 5th, 2021. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data, and assessed the risk of bias of included studies; then, meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.3 software. ResultsA total of 31 RCTs involving 2 755 patients were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that compared with western medicine, fire needle could reduce VAS score (SMD=−1.00, 95%CI −1.36 to −0.63, P<0.000 01). Fire needle combined with western medicine could improve the total efficiency (RR=1.15, 95%CI 1.06 to 1.23, P=0.000 3), reduce VAS score (SMD=−1.92, 95%CI −2.87 to −0.97, P<0.000 1), and SAS rating (SMD=−0.89, 95%CI −1.20 to −0.59, P<0.000 01). Compared with conventional acupuncture, fire needle could reduce VAS score (SMD=−1.37, 95%CI −2.35 to −0.39, P=0.006), and immediate analgesic time (SMD=−0.64, 95%CI −0.88 to −0.39, P<0.000 01). Compared with the traditional Chinese medicine, fire needle could reduce VAS score (SMD=−1.00, 95%CI −1.53 to −0.47, P=0.000 2), SDS rating (SMD=−1.59, 95%CI −1.18 to −1.31, P<0.000 01), SAS rating (SMD=−1.79, 95%CI −2.08 to −1.49, P<0.000 01). In addition, the incidence of adverse reactions in experimental group was significantly lower than that in the control group. ConclusionCurrent evidence shows that fire needle can significantly reduce pain intensity, relieve anxiety, and improve the quality of life of post-herpetic neuralgia patients. Due to limited quality and quantity of the included studies, more high-quality studies are required to verify the above conclusion.