Postherpetic neuralgia and its treatment: a retrospective survey of 191 patients
Abstract
One hundred and ninety-one patients with postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) in whom treatment was begun 3 or more months after acute herpes zoster (HZ) were retrospectively considered. Relieved (> or = 75% fall in visual analogue score for worst pain within last 24 hr) and unrelieved groups were subdivided into those who had and those who had not received antiviral treatment for their acute shingles. More than 90% of all patients experienced allodynia with a clinically evident sensory deficit for temperature and/or pinprick sensation. The probability of relief is worst in patients with PHN of the isolated ophthalmic nerve and of the brachial plexus, and best when involving the jaw, neck, and trunk. The presence (90%) or absence of allodynia has no predictive significance; but the small number of patients without allodynia or sensory deficit (all of whom had had antiviral treatment for their acute shingles) all improved. The probability of pain relief was found to correlate very strongly with the brevity of the interval between rash onset and commencement of treatment with an adrenergically active antidepressant. Further, time to relief in patients treated with an antidepressant starting at the same interval after HZ is significantly ...Continue Reading
References
Topical aspirin in chloroform and the relief of pain due to herpes zoster and postherpetic neuralgia
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