Electroacupuncture Therapy for Treating Postherpetic Neuralgia

Summary

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.

Conditions

• Postherpetic Neuralgia

Interventions

PROCEDURE

EA combined with medication

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.

DRUG

Medication

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.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Lishui Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Zhejiang Provincial Tongde Hospital

  collaborator OTHER

• The Third Affiliated hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Dexiong Han, M.D · The Third Affiliated hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

20 Years

Max Age

80 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2020-11-11

Primary Completion

2021-12-31

Completion

2021-12-31

Countries

• China

Study Locations