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 dura-tion, 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.