Clinical Research On Electric Acupuncture Therapy In The Treatment Of Acute Neuralgia Associated With Herpes Zoster

ObjectiveBy objectively comparing the use of electric acupuncture therapy in conjunction with conventional drugs versus the use of painkiller combined with conventional drugs, the goal is to investigate a convenient and efficient therapy with a long-lasting but minimal side effect, for the treatment of acute neuralgia associated with herpes zoster.MethodsAfter proper diagnosis of acute neuralgia associated with herpes zoster, strictly following the principle of randomized control, we divide 60 patients into treatment and control groups. The treatment group is comprised of 30 patients following the treatment plan of electric acupuncture therapy in conjunction with conventional drugs, whereas the control group is constituted with 30 patients treated with painkiller and conventional drugs. The acu-points chosen in the treatment group are He-Gu(LI4), Wai-Guan(TE5), Yang-Ling-Quan(GB34), Zu-Lin-Qi(GB41), and Tai-Chong(LV3), while Indomethacin is used as the painkiller in the control group. The treatment session of each patient is aweek, during which a patient is either treated with electric acupuncture therapy once a day or given Indomethacin for the duration of one week. Evaluation was performed once during the 1st session of treatment, once before the 5th treatment, and then onceafter the 7th day of treatment; moreover, the level of mitigation was assessed after the 1st treatment, while the duration of pain alleviation was recorded before the start of the 2nd treatment. Sequela was evaluated 30 days after the final treatment.ResultsThere were 3 patient withdrawals from the treatment group(1 from fright of electric acupuncture, & 2 from unable to withstand the needling stimulation), while there were also 3 drop outs from the control group (1 from uncontrolled fever, & 2 from change of painkiller used to Celecoxib due to increase of neuralgia). As a result, only 27 patients entered each testing group. And through X2 analysis, there was no significant difference in terms of genders, ages, and the location of herpes zoster.During the experiment, treatment groupdi splayed a total cure rate of 40.74%, which showed 3 completed recoveries,8 cases with significant improvement, 15 cases with effectual changes, whilel case exhibited no effect; on the contrary, the control group displayed 0 recovery case,1 significantly improved case,22 effectual cases, and 4 unfruitful cases, with a total cure rate of 3.70%. Through X2 analysis, there was a statistical significance in the total cure rate differences between the 2 groups (P<0.05). After the final treatment day, the result of the treatment group was a final total cure rate of 85.19%, with 4 completed recoveries,19 cases of significant improvements, 4 cases of effectual changes, and 0 ineffective case. As for the control group, there was no completed recovery,3 cases were significantly improved,24 cases were effectual, and no case wasunfruitful, with a final total cure rate of 11.11%. Through X2 analysis, we found a statistical significance in the final total cure rate differences between the 2 groups (P<0.05).In terms ofinstant pain attenuation and duration of pain alleviation, there was a statistical significance in the differences between the T sample of the 2 groups (P<0.05).Within each group, there was a significant decrease in the painassessment score when compared the evaluation of score obtained from the 5th day and the 7th day, to the score before the 1st day of treatment. There was a statistical significance in thedifferences between the T sample of the 2 groups (P<0.05). Vice versa, there was also a significant decrease in the pain assessment scoreof the treatment group when comparing to that of the control group (P<0.05).In the follow-up visit, there was a single patient manifestedsign of sequela from the treatment group, while the control groupexhibited 3 cases of sequela, which showed statistical significance (P<0.05).ConelusionIn short, we found an advantage when combined electric acupuncture therapy with conventional drugs in the treatment of acute neuralgia from herpes zoster, which not only displayed a better instant pain attenuation, but also a longer pain alleviation durationover the treatment of Indomethacin with conventional drugs. Therefore, from the experiment we demonstrated electric acupuncture therapy not only could be a fast and convenient, but also a safe and effective treatment against acute neuralgia associated with herpes zoster, and is thus worthy of clinical advocation.