Botulinum as a Toxin for Treating Post-herpetic Neuralgia

BACKGROUND We aimed to study the curative effects of botulinum A toxin (BTX-A) on the treatment of post-herpetic neuralgia (PNH). METHODS We enrolled 58 PNH patients and treated them with hypodermic injection of BTX-A in Xiangyang No.1 People's Hospital, Hubei University of Medicine, Hubei, China. We measured and compared the Visual Analog Score (VAS), Neuropathy Pain Scale (NPS), Quality of Life Scale (SF-36) score, PNH seizure severity degree, seizure duration, frequency of attack and the use of painkillers before and after treatment. We used SPSS13 software package for statistical analysis. Values were expressed by mean± standard deviation. P<0.05 indicated a significant difference and P<0.01 indicated an obvious significant difference. RESULTS Attack frequency, attack duration and attack severity were all significantly lower after treatment (P<0.01). The use of painkillers reduced after treatment (P<0.01) and we observed very few adverse reactions associated with BTX-A injection. CONCLUSION The use of BTX-A for treating post-herpetic neuralgia produced very promising results with very few adverse reactions. BTX-A can be considered as a valid approach in the treatment of PNH, especially in patients that do not respond well to painkillers.