NCT01379716

Evaluation of Five Selected Markers in Skin Biopsies of Patients With Postherpetic Neuralgia and Healthy Controls

Immunolabeling Evaluation of Five Selected Markers in Skin Biopsies of Patients With Postherpetic Neuralgia (PHN) and Age and Gender-Matched Normal Controls

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 10 (actual)
• Sponsor: Albany Medical College · Academic / Other
• Sex: Male
• Age: 50 Years – 95 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

Postherpetic Neuralgia is a painful nerve condition that can occur when nerve fibers are damaged following an outbreak of shingles. The purpose of this study is to identify and study abnormalities in the nerves and cells in the of patients with postherpetic Neuralgia (PHN) and characterize changes that could be responsible for causing nerve pain. This data will be compared to the tissue of healthy volunteers. Our goal is that this information will lead to the development of better treatment options for people with painful nerve conditions.

Conditions

• Postherpetic Neuralgia
• Healthy Age/Gender Matched Volunteers

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	skin biopsy	Using a punch biopsy, the study doctor will take a small sample of skin (3mm diameter) from a pre-defined site of the subject. For PHN patients, 4 biopsies will be obtained: 2 in an area of PHN and 2 in a contralateral control site. Biopsy sites for each PHN control subject will be matched anatomically to the corresponding PHN patient with two biopsies each from symmetrical sites in a left and right dermatome. One biopsy from each site in each subject will be fixed in a left and right dermatome. One biopsy from each site in each subject will fixed yb immersion in 4% paraformaldehyde for immunocytochemical analysis, and the second biopsy form each site will be flash frozen for assessments of mRNA expression.

Timeline

• Start date: 2011-01-01
• Primary completion: 2013-01-01
• Completion: 2013-06-01
• First posted: 2011-06-23
• Last updated: 2020-01-09

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States