Abstract:Postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) could be diagnosed if the pain is still in sufferingarea after 4 to 6 weeks of recovery of acute herpes zoster. Thirty -four patients (averageages 67. 8) suffering from PHN were studied on the efficiency of pain relief by epiduralanalgesia (EA) and paravertebral injection (PVI) of nerve root . The average duration ofPHN was about 3 years, but one male 8 years and one female 13 years. Before going to ourPain clinic, all patients had recieved different combined treatments- The patients were devided into 2 groups, group EA and group PVI (17 cases each). Both groups were injected withthe solution containing 0. 2% bupivacaine, 1 % xylocaine, dexamethson 3 to 5 mg and vitamine B12 0. 5 to 1 mg, 3 to 5 ml for each segment- Injection was given once every 5 daysfor a total of injections. The pain relief was evaluated by means of "Visual Analog Scale",the results revealed that the percent of excellent and good in group PVI ws significantlyhigher than that in group EA (70. 6 % and 29. 4 % respectively, P <0. 01 ) and the total effect as well (88. 2% and 52. 9% respectively, P <0. 02). The Pain was killed by onlyone injection in about one fourth (8 cases) of patients of group PVI. The patient of poorpain-relief in group EA were effective by PVI treatment. Our finding suggest that mainpainful location of PHN may be paravertabral area. The caution must be taken during PVIare also discussed in the paper.
