Electroacupuncture Therapy for Treating Postherpetic Neuralgia

The Third Affiliated hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University132 enrolled

Overview

Postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) has a high incidence rate and severely impact on quality of life and health care costs, interfering with physical, emotional and social functioning of affected patients. Current therapeutic options for PHN mainly include analgetic and local anaesthesia for selective nerve blockade. Nevertheless, the efficacy of analgetic is always limited by inevitable side effects, in which patients have poor compliance. Moreover, for some most suffering patients, the control of pain is often unsatisfactory despite the administration of complex combinations. As a non-pharmarceutical therapy, acupuncture is widely use for a wide range of pain conditions. Thus, it might be an alternative treatment for PHN. The aim of this multicenter randomized controlled trial is to investigate the efficacy and safety of electroacupuncture therapy in patients with postherpetic neuralgia.

This randomized controlled trial will enroll 132 patients with postherpetic neuralgia. All patients will be randomly assigned to either the EA combined with medication group or the medication group via a computerized central randomization system in a 1:1 ratio. Primary outcomes will be change in sensory thresholds and pain intensity. Secondary outcomes will be change in dosage of analgetic, quality of life, anxiety and depression severity and sleep quality.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Enrollment

132

Conditions

Postherpetic Neuralgia

Interventions

EA combined with medicationPROCEDURE

Primary acupoints include Ashi points, Jiaji acupoints and Xi-cleft points. Jiaji points on the ipsilateral side will be selected according to the corresponding ganglia involved by HZ. Xi-cleft points will be selected based on the distribution regions of PHN. For pain sites that mainly distributed in the gallbladder meridian, GB36 will be selected. For pain sites that mainly distributed in the stomach meridian, ST34 will be selected. For pain sites that mainly distributed in the gallbladder meridian, BL63 will be selected. For pain sites that mainly distributed in the large intestine meridian, LI7 will be selected. Supplementary acupoints will be chosen based on TCM syndrome differentiation. Operation: Two paired of acupoints are connected to the EA apparatus. EA parameter is selected as 2/100Hz wave. EA intensity is selected according to the patients' endurance. Needles will be retained and EA will last for 30 mins for each session.

MedicationDRUG

The dosage of gabapentin starts from 100mg Tid. 100mg-300mg can be increased every 3-7 days and taken in three doses, but the total amount is not more than 1800mg/day. The dosage of gabapentin will be adjusted according to the patient's condition until his pain is effectively controlled. After maintaining the medication for two weeks, the dosage can be gradually reduced and 100mg can be reduced every 3-7 days.

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 20 YearsMax age: 80 Years

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: 1. Patients have a medical history of herpes zoster; 2. Skin lesion has healed in the region of herpes zoster, but the duration of postherpetic neuralgia persist for more than 30 days. 3. 20 ≤ age ≤80 years, male or female 4. Participants can fully understand the study protocol and written informed consent is signed. Exclusion Criteria: 1. Acute herpes zoster, herpes zoster has not disappeared; 2. Herpes zoster belongs to a special type, such as ophthalmic herpes zoster, auricular herpes zoster, HZ that involves internal organs, meningeal herpes zoster, and disseminated herpes zoster. 3. Pregnant or lactating women; 4. Patients have severe complications in cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, liver, kidney, hematopoietic and other systems,or have malignant tumor, mental illness, immune deficiency, hemorrhagic disorders and other diseases; 5. Patients have severe cognitive impairment and can not understand the study protocol; 6. Patients can not receive electroacupuncture treatment due to any reasons.