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Published on: May 10, 2017
Treatment of postherpetic neuralgia using DREZotomy guided by spinal cord stimulation
Ming-Xing Liu1, Jun Zhong, Jin Zhu
1Department of Neurosurgery, XinHua Hospital, Shanghai JiaoTong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
Background:
Postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) is the most common complication following an episode of acute herpes zoster. The curative effect of current treatments is limited.
Objectives:
The purpose of this paper is to report a new treatment for PHN with a combination of dorsal root entry zone lesion (DREZotomy) and spinal cord stimulation (SCS).
Methods:
Microsurgical DREZotomy assisted with SCS for target localization was performed in 6 patients with PHN. A visual analog scale (VAS) was used to evaluate the pain pre- and postoperatively.
Results:
Except for 1 patient, in whom the test SCS was unsatisfactory, all patients finally underwent DREZotomy. These 5 patients experienced apparent symptom relief postoperatively, and the VAS score decreased from a baseline of 8.4 ± 1.14 to 2.4 ± 1.14 (p = 0.0020) and did not change significantly during the follow-up of up to 24 months.
Conclusions:
Microsurgical DREZotomy assisted with SCS for target localization is an effective remedy for PHN.
