The Treatment of Postherpetic Neuralgia in the Head and Face With Superficial Needling Combined With Electroacupuncture

Based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria, patients with head and face PHN who met the requirements were selected as trial subjects, and the efficacy was clarified in a randomized controlled design trial. The visual analog score VAS was used as the primary evaluation index, and the depression self-assessment scale score , Hamilton depression scale, Pittsburgh sleep quality index scale, and quality of life evaluation scale (SF-36) were used as the secondary evaluation indexes, and oral pregabalin was used as the control group, and the subjects in the pregabalin and the plexus superficial stabbing combined with electroacupuncture groups were observed respectively at the time of Before treatment, immediately after the first treatment, after 2 days of treatment, after 2 weeks of treatment, after 4 weeks of treatment, after 1 month of follow-up after the end of treatment and after 2 months of follow-up after the end of treatment.

On the one hand, it was clarified whether plexus needle shallow stabbing combined with electroacupuncture for the treatment of PHN in the head and face has clear and stable advantages in pain reduction, improvement of mood, sleep quality and quality of life, and formed the clinical standardization of plexus needle shallow stabbing combined with electroacupuncture for the treatment of postherpetic neuralgia in the head and face, which in turn lays the foundation for the further popularization of acupuncture for the treatment of postherpetic neuralgia in the head and face, and also provides a new, scientific and effective way of thinking about clinical analgesic therapies for postherpetic neuralgia.

On the other hand, this study will clarify the correlation between facial thermal radiation characteristics and clinical symptoms in patients with head and face PHN, and apply infrared thermography as an objective evaluation of the efficacy index of plexus needling and shallow stabbing combined with electroacupuncture in the treatment of head and face PHN, which will provide a new method for objectively verifying the clinical efficacy of PHN.

Eligibility Criteria:
Inclusion Criteria:

Meet the diagnostic criteria in the 2016 Chinese Expert Consensus on the Diagnosis and Treatment of Postherpetic Neuralgia; Age 50-80 years (including telangiectasia), gender is not limited; Have a history of herpes zoster on the head and face, and the lesions on the head and face have been healed and subsided, and the symptoms of neuralgia lasted ≥1 month after lesions were healed, with baseline scores of ≥4 on the Facial Pain Profile, and abnormal sensation of the skin around the lesions, pain sensitivity; Be conscious and have a clear sense of pain and discriminative ability; Sign the informed consent to participate in this study voluntarily. Only those who satisfy the above 5 items at the same time can be included in this study.

Exclusion Criteria:

those who did not meet the above diagnostic criteria; herpes zoster occurring in the perineum, or special types such as visceral herpes zoster, meningeal herpes zoster, and generalized herpes zoster; those who were taking oral pregabalin at a dose of less than 0.2 g or more than 0.6 g per day before inclusion to relieve analgesia; those who had a serious adverse reaction to pregabalin, were allergic to acupuncture, or belonged to patients who were within the range of contraindications to electro-acupuncture; Combined with severe cardiac, hepatic, renal damage, epilepsy, head injury, or cognitive dysfunction, aphasia, psychiatric disorders, and other major diseases, who are unable to cooperate with the treatment; Combined with poorly controlled hypertension and diabetes mellitus patients; Pregnant or breastfeeding patients;8.Patients who are currently participating in other studies, and who have been enrolled in other clinical trials within the last 3 months. Anyone who meets any of these criteria will be excluded.