Objective- Post herpetic neuralgia is persistent pain ranging from 30 days or 6 months after the onset of herpes zoster in affected dermatome but occasionally it may persist for years. Gabapentin is an effective modality for post herpetic neuralgia management.
Material and Methods- This was a randomized double blinded controlled trial on 29 cases in each group done to assess the effectiveness of gabapentin and placebo in pain reduction of post herpetic neuralgia, to assess the difference in mean decrease in Visual Analogue Score (VAS) for pain at 4 weeks interval in patients of both groups (i.e. gabapentin vs. placebo) upto 6 months and adverse effects in the study group.
Results- At 3 months of treatment, mean VAS for pain was 2.897±2.304 in Group A whereas in Group B it was 4.03+1.86. The difference in VAS in both the groups was statistically significant (P value = 0.0004). At 6 months, mean VAS was 0.758±1.3 and 2.03+1.70 in Group A and Group B respectively; which was statistically significant (P value = 0.0021).
Conclusion- We conclude that gabapentin is a common, safe and effective modality for PHN.
Impact Factor
2022: 6.012
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