Therapeutic Efficacy Of Clinical Observations For Treatment Of Herpes Zoster Neuralgia Via Spinal Cord Stimulation In Combination With Oral Pregabalin

Objective:The goal of this study was to investigate the efficacy and safety of spinal cord stimulation combined with oral pregabalin for the treatment of patients with postherpetic neuralgia(PHN).Methods:A total of sixty patients with PHN were randomly allocated into treatment group and control group with each group of 30 patients.The control group was given with oral pregabalin 300 mg/d(150 mg,bid);and in the experimental group the same dose of pregabalin was given in a combination with spinal cord stimulation.Pain degree and sleep quality were evaluated at the beginning of the study and during the period of treatment at different time points(1st day,1st week,1st month,and 3rd month).The short-form of Mc Gill pain questionnaire,sleep quality score and tramadol were used to evaluate the therapeutic effects,and the incidence of complications and adverse reactions were also recorded.Results:There was no difference between the pain scale evaluated by the short-form of Mc Gill scores and the sleep quality index for the two groups before the treatment(p>0.05).In both groups,the pain scale evaluated by the short-form of Mc Gill score and sleep quality score were lower in the first week,1st month and 3rd month,as compared with the pretreatment(p<0.05).The pain scale evaluated by the short-form of Mc Gill pain questionnaire(SF-MPQ)of experimental group decreased significantly after treatment compared with control group(p< 0.05),the sleep quality in experimental group increased significantly after treatment as compared with the control group(p<0.05).There was a significant reduction in the number of patients from treatment group who needed to use tramadol in low dosage than the control group(p<0.05).There were no epidural hematoma and complications after treatment,and neither group had serious adverse drug reactions.Conclusions:Spinal cord stimulation in the combination with oral pregabalin can rapidly alleviate postherpetic neuralgia pain and improve patients’ quality of sleep without detectable safety issues.