Observation On The Effect Of Alternative External Use Of Diclofenac Sodium Cream And Lidocaine Cream On Postherpetic Neuralgia

Background Herpes zoster(HZ)is an acute skin disease.After infection with the virus,the latent virus reactivates when immunity is reduced.Upon attack,the patient develops a cluster of vesicles on one side of the body,often accompanied by significant neuralgia.However,vesicles still exist in some patients 1 month after the rash heals.It is clinically known as Postherpetic neuralgia(PHN).At present,the main therapeutic methods for PHN include oral drugs,local drugs and minimally invasive interventional therapy,but the effect is not satisfactory.Lidocaine as a first-line topical drug has good analgesic effect,but it is not good for acute pain response,and some patients have poor compliance during clinical application.Therefore,in this study,the non-steroidal drug diclofenac sodium was selected for combined topical application,and the analgesic mechanism of the two drugs was complementary,in order to seek a better treatment method for patients.Objective To investigate the short-term and long-term efficacy of diclofenac sodium combination with lidocaine cream in the treatment of post herpetic neuralgia(PHN).Methods 58 PHN patients in our department from June 2021 to June 2022 were selected as research objects,and randomly divided into observation group and control group,29 patients in each group.In the observation group,lidocaine cream was applied alternately with diclofenac sodium cream at an interval of 0.5 h,both four times a day(morning,middle,evening and before sleep).In the control group,lidocaine cream was only applied four times a day and the difference of clinical efficacy indexes between the two groups was compared.Results The compliance rate of the observation group was 65.52% after one week of treatment,which was significantly higher than that of the control group(34.48%)(χ2=6.905),with statistical difference(P<0.01).The compliance rate of observation group was 93.10% higher than that of control group after 2weeks(χ2=1.305),but there was no statistical significance(P>0.05);The constituent ratio of curative effect in the observation group after 2 and 8 weeks of treatment was significantly different from that in the control group(χ2=4.322 and 4.188,both P<0.05).The control rate(27.59% vs.13.79% and 41.38% vs.20.69%)and inefficiency(31.03% vs.58.62% and 10.34% vs.27.59%)determined that the observation group was superior to the control group;The VAS and PSQI scores of3.83 ± 1.16 and 2.41 ± 1.01 and 8.14 ± 3.09 and 2.58 ± 1.38 in the observation group at 2 and 8 weeks after treatment were significantly lower than those of 4.72 ± 1.07 and 3.21 ± 1.05 in the control group and 9.89 ± 2.58 and 2.58 ± 1.38 in the control group(P<0.01 and P<0.05 respectively).Conclusion Diclofenac sodium cream can not only improve the short-term and long-term efficacy of lidocaine cream in the treatment of PHN,but also improve the compliance of patients,which is worthy of clinical application.that of lidocaine cream alone,which is worthy of clinical application.