Postherpetic Neuralgia
Conditions
Interventions
sham EA group:sham electroacupuncture
Sponsors
Beijing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine Capital Medical University
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
50 Years to 80 Years
Inclusion criteria
Inclusion criteria: 1)Age = 50 years; 2)Meeting the diagnostic criteria for postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) as defined in the 2016 Chinese Expert Consensus on the Diagnosis and Treatment of Postherpetic Neuralgia; 3)Average pain intensity within the screening week ranging from 3 to 6 on the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) (3 = VAS); 4)Right-handed; 5)Able to cooperate with a 30-minute multimodal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examination; 6)Must discontinue analgesic medications including but not limited to gabapentin pregabalin and ibuprofen at least one day before MRI scanning; 7)Signed informed consent form and voluntarily agreed to participate in the study.
Exclusion criteria
Exclusion criteria: 1)PHN patients who have previously undergone neurolytic blockade or neurosurgical treatment; 2)Severe pain or neurological disorders unrelated to PHN or skin lesions that could cause pain other than PHN; 3)Patients with severe emotional disorders requiring tricyclic antidepressants or those with psychiatric or intellectual impairments preventing questionnaire completion; 4)Patients with severe primary diseases of the cardiovascular cerebrovascular hepatic renal or hematopoietic systems as well as malignancies or other organic diseases; 5)Pregnant or lactating women or those planning to conceive within the next six months; 6)Patients who have previously participated in other clinical trials involving electroacupuncture treatment; 7)PHN affecting the perineal or brachial plexus regions or special types of herpes zoster including ophthalmic auricular abortive zoster sine herpete herpes zoster meningitis or encephalitis visceral autonomic nerve involvement disseminated herpes zoster or other forms such as bullous hemorrhagic or necrotic herpes zoster; 8)Patients unable to undergo MRI due to claustrophobia pacemakers metallic implants intracranial vascular stents or other contraindications.
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| VAS; | — |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| hospital anxiety and depression scale;BPI-SF;Time to relieving of pain;Interleukin-6 (IL-6);McGill Pain Questionnaire;Interleukin-4 (IL-4);Intensity of acute zoster-associated pain;Tumor Necrosis factor -a (TNF-a);Serum T lymphocyte subset;Substance P(SP);36- item short form health survey;Average daily sleep interference score; | — |
Countries
China
Contacts
Public ContactTianli Lyu
Beijing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine Capital Medical University
Outcome results
None listed