 |
|
Improvement of Postherpetic Neuralgia After Treatment With Intravenous Acyclovir Followed by Oral Valacyclovir
Dianna Quan, MD;
Barbara N. Hammack, PhD;
John Kittelson, PhD;
Donald H. Gilden, MD
Arch Neurol. 2006;63:(doi:10.1001/archneur.63.7.noc60049).
Background Postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) is a complication of shingles (herpes zoster), a painful rash due to varicella-zoster virus reactivation. Studies of patients with PHN and zoster sine herpete (radicular pain without rash) support the notion that low-grade viral ganglionitis contributes to pain. If chronic pain reflects active infection, then antiviral therapy may help patients with PHN.
Objective To determine whether antiviral treatment helps reduce PHN-associated pain.
Design Prospective, open-label phase I/II clinical trial.
Setting Tertiary care university hospital.
Patients Fifteen patients with moderate to severe PHN.
Interventions Intravenous acyclovir at a dosage of 10 mg/kg every 8 hours for 14 days followed by oral valacyclovir at a dosage of 1000 mg 3 times per day for 1 month.
Main Outcome Measure Numeric Rating Scale for Pain score.
Results As defined by a decrease of 2 or more points on the Numeric Rating Scale for Pain, 8 (53%) of 15 patients reported improvement.
Conclusion Clinical improvement reported by most of our patients warrants further investigation in a larger, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.
Published online May 8, 2006 (doi:10.1001/archneur.63.7.noc60049).
Author Affiliations: Departments of Neurology (Drs Quan, Hammack, and Gilden), Preventive Medicine and Biostatistics (Dr Kittelson), and Microbiology (Dr Gilden), University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver.
 CiteULike  Connotea  Del.icio.us  Digg  Reddit  Technorati  Twitter
What's this?
|
