NCT00885586

Acupuncture in Herpes Zoster Neuralgia (ACUZoster)

Analgetic Effectiveness of Acupuncture When Compared to a Standardised Analgesic Regimen in the Treatment of Herpes Zoster Neuralgia

• Status: Completed
• Phase: Phase 4
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 68 (actual)
• Sponsor: Dominik Irnich · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

Symptoms that herald herpes zoster include pruritus, dysesthesia and pain along the distribution of the involved dermatome. The most distressing symptom is typically pain and the most feared complication is postherpetic neuralgia (PHN), the persistence of pain long after rash healing. PHN is defined as pain persisting more than 3 months after the rash has healed. Both, the acute pain associated with herpes zoster and the chronic pain of PHN, have multiple adverse effects on health-related quality of life. The primary objective of the trial presented is to investigate whether a 4 week semi-standardised acupuncture is non-inferior (first step) or superior (second step) to (a) the anticonvulsive drug gabapentin and (b) sham laser acupuncture in the treatment of pain associated with herpes zoster in addition to standardised analgesics. Secondary objectives include an assessment of the change of sensoric function, of long-term effectiveness, the occurrence of PHN and an evaluation of several pain specific questionnaires

Conditions

• Herpes Zoster
• Postherpetic Neuralgia
• Pain

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
DEVICE	Sham-laser acupuncture	Laser irradiation is faked, approaching a non-functioning laser pen.
DRUG	gabapentine	Patients in this arm are treated individually with gabapentine 900 mg/d - 3600 mg/d, according to the recommended scheme given by the manufacturer
PROCEDURE	Acupuncture	The needle acupuncture technique used in this trial is performed according the traditional way (TCM) using expendable needles.

Timeline

• Start date: 2008-11-01
• Primary completion: 2017-08-29
• Completion: 2018-04-05
• First posted: 2009-04-22
• Last updated: 2018-08-10

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Germany