NCT06420778

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

A Randomized Controlled Study on the Treatment of Postherpetic Neuralgia in the Head and Face With Superficial Needling Combined With Electroacupuncture

• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 124 (estimated)
• Sponsor: Zhejiang Chinese Medical University · Other Government
• Sex: All
• Age: 50 Years – 80 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

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.

Detailed description

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.

Conditions

• Postherpetic Neuralgia
• Electroacupuncture
• Infrared Thermography

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	electroacupuncture	The patient takes the supine position, the whole body relaxes, the facial skin is routinely sterilized. Local acupuncture points along the head and face herpes zoster lesion branches with 0.18 × 25 mm millimetre needle series of shallow stabbing method row stabbing method.Han's Acupoint Neurostimulator (model HANS-200) was selected, local acupoints were chosen as Xiaguan+Quanliao or Xiaguan+Jiache, and distal acupoints were chosen as Hegu+Waiguan connected with electroacupuncture, sparse and dense wave 2/100 Hz was selected, and the treatment time was 60 minutes, and the intensity of the current was all to the extent that the patient could tolerate it. The needles were left in place for 60 minutes each time, once every other day, and the treatment was performed 3 times a week for 4 weeks, for a total of 12 treatments.
DRUG	Pregabalin	Subjects in this group will be treated with oral pregabalin capsules only, 150 mg twice daily for 4 weeks.Pregabalin was administered with Lerica (specification: 75 mg\*8 capsules,manufactured by Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Ltd).

Timeline

• Start date: 2024-07-12
• Primary completion: 2025-06-30
• Completion: 2025-12-31
• First posted: 2024-05-20
• Last updated: 2025-04-06

Locations

1 site across 1 country: China